Can constitution of India overhaul completely?
- The AVP
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
What is the Constitution? The Indian Constitution is a system of law that defines the legal relationship between the principal organs of the sovereign of India and also states the principal functions of those principal organs of the sovereign. So, what are these principal organs of the sovereign? In India, there are three principle organs of sovereign: one is the legislature which makes laws and consists of the president, upper house, and lower house of parliament; the second one is the executive, which implements and enforces the laws enacted by the legislature and consists of the president, the prime minister and the council of ministers; the third and important one having regulatory function is judiciary, their role is to interpret the law and ensure their enforcement, and resolve the disputes. With these organs in existence, we have an absolute system which do not grant absolute sovereignty to anyone.
Let's go back and take a look at how the constitution of India came into existence. After India gained independence from British rule in 1947, a Constituent Assembly was formed to draft the Constitution. This assembly consisted of representatives from various regions, communities, and political groups. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee, which was tasked with preparing the draft of the Constitution. The committee worked tirelessly, drawing inspiration from various global constitutions while ensuring it reflected India's unique diversity and aspirations. The Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949.

When we take a broader look at this procedure of formation of the Constitution, we will notice one thing: that representatives from the constituent assembly weren’t chosen from the direct elections from the public, but the representatives of the Constituent Assembly of India were chosen through an indirect election process. Members were elected by the Provincial Assemblies of British India using the single transferable vote system of proportional representation. Additionally, representatives from princely states were nominated rather than elected. So, the democracy itself didn’t arise from the democratic way in India, it was imposed by the constituent assembly to the people. The constitution says ‘WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA’ even though it wasn’t even said by the people of India or their directly elected representatives.

As far as the basic structure doctrine of the constitution is concerned, which arose from the judgement of the Kesavananda Bharti vs State of Kerla in 1973, this doctrine was established by the Supreme Court of India to ensure that certain fundamental features of the Constitution, such as the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the separation of powers cannot be altered or destroyed by any constitutional amendment, even under Article 368. The government back then was using Article 368 of the Constitution to protect its political interests. So, the judiciary, with the judgement of the Kesavananda Bharti vs State of Kerla case, made sure of the protection of the constitution. However, some critics say that the judgement of Kesavananda Bharti vs State of Kerla itself violated the basic structure doctrine as if the judiciary has no right to intervene with the work which the legislature is supposed to do. So, it can also be challenged.
The meaning of this basic structure doctrine is not clearly defined anywhere and there are words in the constitution such as secularism; their meaning is also not clearly specified in the constitution.
Comments