The Commonwealth of India Bill 1925 was first drafted by the ‘National Convention’ in April 1924 in the context of the Indian nationalist movement that believed it was time for Indians to be governed by a Constitution framed by Indians. ⁣
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The Convention, with Tej Bahadur Sapru as the Chairman, consisted of 256 members, majority of whom were legislators and ex-legislators with some representation from the Home Rule League, 1921 Club, and the India Women’s Association. ⁣
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A nonofficial effort to draft a new constitution was made by Mrs. Besant and a few of her Indian friends including Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Sir C. P. Ramaswarni Aiyar, Sir P. S. Sivaswami Aiyar, Rt. Hon. V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas, Sir Hari Singh Gour etc.⁣
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The Convention sat again on December 1924 in Bombay and submitted an amended draft of the Bill to a sub-committee appointed by the All Parties Conference, 1925 of which Annie Besant was the Chairwoman. This sub-committee made a number of amendments and these were considered by the National Convention in April 1925. ⁣
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Mahatham Gandhi, Bipan Chandra Pal and Sarojini Naidu were members of the Committee that put together this Bill. This Bill recognised that “Every person shall have the fundamental right to liberty of person and security of his dwelling and property.” The notion of privacy now extends to personal liberty and security for one’s property apart from one’s home.⁣
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The Bill consisted of 127 Articles organised around ten chapters. It read like a full-fledged constitution and was comprehensive.⁣
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The Bill was presented in the British Parliament by Mr George Lansbury, a leading member of the Labour Party, in December 1925. However, it did not go beyond the first reading stage as the Labour Party had been defeated in the elections.⁣
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It had a huge influence on the Nehru Report 1928 – several provisions that were repeated verbatim (in exactly the same words as were used originally).⁣