Key features of the Indian Council Act of 1909:
 Introduction of elections: The Act introduced elections for the first time to some of the legislative councils, although the franchise was restricted to a small minority of Indians with property qualifications or high educational attainment.
 Increased Indian representation: The Act increased the number of Indian members in the legislative councils, both at the central and provincial levels.
 Separate electorates for Muslims: In a controversial move, the Act introduced separate electorates for Muslims, a concession to the demands of the Muslim League. This decision is seen by some as having sown the seeds of the future partition of India.
 Expansion of legislative powers: The Act expanded the powers of the legislative councils, allowing them to discuss and pass resolutions on a wider range of issues.
 The first Indian to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council was Satyendra Prasad Sinha. He was appointed as a law member.

Explanation:
About Government of India Act of 1947:
 The Act declared India as a sovereign and independent state.
 It also made provisions for the partition of the Indian state into two separate dominions of India and Pakistan on grounds of religious differences.
 The position of the Secretary of States for India was abolished.
 The office of the Viceroy was also abolished and the Act initiated for the providence of two separate Governor-Generals to be appointed for the dominions of India and Pakistan on the advice of the British Cabinet.
 The Constituent Assemblies of both the dominions were authorised to formulate their respective constitutions and also to repeal any law of the British Parliament formulated for the Indian state, including the Independence Act itself.
 The Constituent Assemblies were empowered to act as legislative bodies for their respective dominions till the time they could formulate a constitution for their state.
 It granted authority to the princely states to join either of the dominions or remain independent.
 The governance of each dominion was to be done on the basis of the Government of India Act, of 1935.
 The British Monarch no longer had the authority to veto or ask for the bills of the Indian state.
 The Governor-General of each dominion had to act on the advice of the council.

Explanation:
 The Constituent Assembly not a representative body, as its members
were not directly elected by the people of India, on the basis of
universal adult franchise.
 The Constituent Assembly not a Sovereign Body, the critics
maintained that the Constituent Assembly was not a sovereign
body, as it was created by the proposals of the British Government.
Further, they said that the Assembly held its sessions with the permission
of the British Government.
 The Constituent Assembly met for the first time on 9 December 1946, reassembling on 14 August 1947 as a sovereign body and successor to the British parliament’s authority in India.
 The Elephant was the animal used in the seal of the constituent assembly.

Explanation:
 M.N. Roy was the first to propose the idea of a Constituent Assembly in 1934. In 1935, the Indian National Congress (INC), for the first time, officially demanded a Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India.
 In 1938, Jawaharlal Nehru, on behalf the INC declared that ‘the Constitution of free India must be framed, without outside interference, by a Constituent Assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise’.
 The demand was finally accepted in principle by the British Government in what is known as the ‘August Offer’ of 1940.
 In 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the cabinet, came to India with a draft proposal of the British Government on the framing of an independent Constitution to be adopted after the World War II.
 The Cripps Proposals were rejected by the Muslim League which wanted India to be divided into two autonomous states with two separate Constituent Assemblies. Finally, a Cabinet Mission was sent to India. While it rejected the idea of two Constituent Assemblies, it put forth a scheme for the Constituent Assembly which more or less satisfied the Muslim League.

Explanation:
1. 1924 – Idea first given by Swaraj Party.
2. 1934 – M.N. Roy put forward the demand for C.A.
3. 1935 – INC officially demanded C.A. to frame Indian Constitution.
4. 1940 – Demand accepted in principle in August Offer.
5. 1942 – Cripps Proposal for Constitution rejected.
6. 1946 – Cabinet Mission Plan (CMP) accepted by all parties. (Lord Patrick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps, A V Alexander were its members). CMP rejected two C.A. ideas.