While Prime Minister Modi has said that “Congress party has used Article 356 in India to dissolve the government 90 times in the states”, many people are expressing many opinions about that article. In this article, we will see in detail what that section of the law actually says.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to a motion of thanks to the speech delivered by President Thirelapathi Murmu in today’s session of Parliament. Speaking at that time, he said, “In India, the Congress party has dissolved the government 90 times in the states by using Article 356 of the Constitution. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has done this 50 times using that section,” he said. Consequently, Article 356 has become a talking point. Let us see here what is Article 356.
Article 356 of the Constitution of India provides for the abolition of popularly elected state governments and the direct imposition of President’s rule there.. Based on the Governor’s report, President’s Rule will be implemented. The Act was based on Article 93 of the Constitution of India Act 1935. Even before the Constitution came into force in India, Article 93 of the Government of India Act, 1935 provided for the dissolution of provincial governments.
Section 93 of the Government of India Act, 1935 empowered the Governor to declare a state of emergency in the provinces during the pre-independence period of British rule. But after independence, this Article 93 was added as Article 356 when India wrote its own constitution.
Article 356 provides for the dissolution of the State Government and imposition of Governor’s rule due to reasons such as improper functioning of the State Government, law and order, lack of administration, lack of control of the State Government, violation of regulations etc. Accordingly, a state can be brought under the President’s rule either completely or in certain areas.
Thereafter, the dissolved Government shall be replaced by President’s rule in that State and the Governor of the dissolved State shall have the power to administer that State on the advice of the President. The administrative powers of the state where the President’s rule is implemented are transferred to the Governor and he will rule. The Governor appoints advisers and retired government officials to assist him and lead the administration of the state. Generally the central government policies are followed. No major policy decisions can be made.
After the establishment of the President’s rule, he has the right to elect a new government by holding elections within six months. At the same time, this period of six months can be extended up to three years every six months with the approval of the Parliament. However, in the past, the President’s rule has been extended by a few years due to specific circumstances. President’s rule was implemented for the first time in India in 1959 in Kerala.
The then Prime Minister was Jawaharlal Nehru. Since then President’s rule has been implemented in many states more than 100 times. During Nehru’s tenure as Prime Minister, 7 times and 50 times during Indira Gandhi’s tenure (first time 33 times, second time 17 times), the governments of the states have been dissolved. Besides, state governments have been dissolved even during PV Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee’s tenure.
In 1989, SR Pommai’s rule as the Chief Minister of Karnataka was dissolved using Article 356. The dissolution of the regime and the legal struggle that followed was an important turning point in Indian political history. The case was heard by a nine-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice Kuldeep Singh and delivered its judgment on 11 March 1994.
Then, “If the state government is told that it does not have a majority, it should be given an opportunity to prove its majority. At least one week advance notice should be given. “The order of the President under Article 356 is subject to judicial review.” It is noteworthy that after this judgment, the central government’s dissolution of state governments for political reasons has reduced considerably.