The Indian Independence Act of 1947 made the following three changes in the position of the
Assembly:
1. The Assembly was made a fully sovereign body, which could frame any Constitution it
pleased. The act empowered the Assembly to abrogate or alter any law made by the British
Parliament in relation to India.
2. The Assembly also became a legislative body. In other words, two separate functions were
assigned to the Assembly, that is, making of a constitution for free India and enacting of
ordinary laws for the country. These two tasks were to be performed on separate days. Thus,
the Assembly became the first Parliament of free India (Dominion Legislature). Whenever the
Assembly met as the Constituent body it was chaired by Dr. Rajendra Prasad and when it met
as the legislative body, it was chaired by G V Mavlankar. These two functions continued till
November 26, 1949, when the task of making the Constitution was over.
3. The Muslim League members (hailing from the areas7 included in the Pakistan) withdrew
from the Constituent Assembly for India. Consequently, the total strength of the Assembly
came down to 299 as against 389 originally fixed in 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan.
The strength of the Indian provinces (formerly British Provinces) was reduced from 296 to
229 and those of the princely states from 93 to 70.
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