Historical Constitutions

The Constitution of India 1950 was drafted by the Constituent Assembly from 1946-1950. However, this Constitution drew on a longer history of antecedents documents drafted either as legislation governing British India or aspirational political documents. This section of the website presents carefully selected, edited and human tagged versions of these ‘historical constitutions.’

The Constitution of the Hindusthan Free State Act, 1944

Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir (1957)

Karachi Resolution (1931)

The Constitution of India Bill (Unknown, 1895)

Indian Councils Act, 1909

The Congress-League Scheme 1916 (INC & AIML)

Government of India Act, 1919

The Revolutionary (Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, 1925)

The Commonwealth of India Bill (National Convention, India, 1925)

Nehru Report (Motilal Nehru,1928)

Irwin Declaration (Lord Irwin, 1929)

Declaration of Purna Swaraj (Indian National Congress, 1930)

Karachi Resolution 1931 (Jawaharlal Nehru)

Karachi Resolution 1931 (Mahatma Gandhi)

Poona Pact 1932 (B.R Ambedkar and M.K Gandhi)

Government of India Act 1935

Constitution of Free India : A Draft (M.N. Roy, 1944)

Political Demands of Scheduled Castes 1944 (SCF)

B.R Ambedkar, the founder of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF), appended this document to his 1945 book 'What the Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables'. The document comprises a series of resolutions passed by the SCF's Working Committee that demanded constitutional protections for Schedules Caste community.

Sapru Committee Report (Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, 1945)

States and Minorities (B.R. Ambedkar, 1947)

B.R. Ambedkar drafted and submitted this seminal document to the Constituent Assembly's Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights on the request of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation. It presents his constitutional vision for India, with a particular emphasis on safeguards for minorities.

Draft of Indian Woman's Charter of Rights And Duties (All India Women's Conference, 1946)

Gandhian Constitution for Free India (Shriman Narayan Agarwal, 1946)

Preliminary Notes on Fundamental Rights 1946 (B.N. Rau)

Cabinet Mission Plan (Cabinet Mission, 1946)

Outline of a New Constitution (B.N. Rau, 1946)

Indian Independence Act 1947 (UK Parliament)

Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947

Draft Constitution of the Republic of India (Socialist Party, 1948)