The "Constitutional Framework" is the Constitution of India, the supreme legal document and the longest written national constitution in the world, which serves as the foundational act for the Indian state. It was created to establish a sovereign, democratic republic after independence, superseding the Government of India Act 1935. The document was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar chairing the drafting committee. It was adopted on November 26, 1949, and came into effect on January 26, 1950, marking India's transition from a dominion to a republic.
The framework operates through a structure that originally contained a Preamble, 395 Articles in 22 Parts, and 8 Schedules. It establishes a federal system with a unitary bias, a parliamentary form of government, and an integrated and independent judiciary. Key mechanisms include the guarantee of Fundamental Rights in Part III (e.g., Right to Equality in Articles 14-18) and the non-justiciable Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV.
This framework connects fundamentally to the Basic Structure Doctrine, established by the Supreme Court in the 1973 judgment of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, which held that Parliament's power to amend the Constitution under Article 368 cannot be used to alter its basic features. It also connects to the 73rd and 74th Amendments of 1992, which constitutionalized local self-government. The framework is dynamic, with the most recent significant change being the 106th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2023, which introduced a one-third reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.