In response to the clamour for adult suffrage, the issue of franchise in India was heavily deliberated upon in the Round Table Conference in 1931, and the Indian Franchise Committee was set up. However, the Committee’s report, presented with an air of caution, vehemently discouraged the adoption of universal adult franchise in India, citing the widespread illiteracy rates. Instead, the Committee’s proposal for franchise resulted in the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935.
The Act put forth several parameters regarding voter eligibility, including the extent of property owned, amount of taxes paid, residence, etc. Yet, despite these efforts, only a mere one-fifth of the adult population found themselves deemed worthy of the electoral badge of honour at that pivotal juncture in history.
In any case, the 1935 Act was short-lived, with the onset of Indian independence and the subsequent establishment of the Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly itself was constituted as a formal constitution-making body under the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946. The provincial assemblies elected the389 members that comprised the Constituent Assembly based on a single transferable vote system having proportional representation.
These members were, thus, indirectly elected representatives tasked with the mammoth project of drafting a Constitution for India. The Constituent Assembly sat for a period of two years, eleven months and seventeen days, between 06.12.1946 and 24.01.1950, to write the Constitution of India.
Discussion on Adult Franchise
On the issue of adult franchise, the notion was initially met with opposition by the likes of M. Thirumala Rao and Brajeshwara Prasad, who considered universal adult franchise to be a violation of the tenets of democracy on account of the largely illiterate populace of the country.
Other members, such as Hriday Nath Kunzru, believed that while franchise being bestowed based on parameters such as property was antithetical to the idea of a democracy, universal adult suffrage at such a nascent stage would prove troublesome. Instead, he recommended enfranchising approximately half the population and then extending it to the remaining population in a phased manner over a period of fifteen years.
However, during the final days of the Assembly, several Assembly members began to express their views in favour of universal adult franchise, arguing that the inclusion of adult franchise into the Constitution would contribute towards the cause of nation-building and secure the betterment of the common man. Hence, universal adult franchise was incorporated into the Indian Constitution, as enshrined in Article 326.
The inaugural general elections of Independent India were conducted between 25.10.1951 and21.02.1952. This monumental exercise witnessed the participation of a sixth of the world’s population, rendering it the largest election globally at that juncture.
The historic inclusion of universal adult suffrage as a constitutional value in India was noteworthy for accommodating an unprecedented number of voters, and its revolutionary nature. What is now considered a matter of fact was, at that time, perceived as a daring and potentially risky endeavour. The embrace of universal adult suffrage in India, devoid of property, taxation, or literacy qualifications, was deemed a ‘bold experiment’, particularly given the country’s vast geographical expanse and population.
This stride was even monumental, especially when juxtaposed with the trajectory of more economically advanced nations, such as the United States of America, which achieved universal adult franchise only in 1965. India’s adoption of adult franchise also positioned it in close proximity to the timelines of countries like France and Britain, where universal adult suffrage commenced in 1945 and 1928, respectively.
This historical background, coupled with the Constituent Assembly deliberations, unmistakably signify that the incorporation of universal adult suffrage through Article 326 was undertaken with the avowed purpose of granting voting rights and empowerment to every adult citizen of India, devoid of any unjustifiable limitations or constraints. Thus, the drafters of the Constitution crystallized their vision of ‘one man, one value, one vote’ by enshrining it in Article 326.
Reference
In Re: Section 6(a) of the Constitution of India, 1955 (2024)