Article 356 (President's Rule)

Background and evolution

Article 356 is drawn from Section 93 of the Government of India Act 1935, which allowed the Governor to take over provincial government. Ambedkar hoped that it would remain a "dead letter", used only in extreme cases. In practice it was used often, especially from the late 1960s to the 1990s, to dismiss state governments run by opposition parties. It has been imposed more than a hundred times.

The Sarkaria Commission (1987) said that Article 356 should be used only as a last resort. The turning point came with S. R. Bommai (1994), when a nine-judge bench held that the proclamation is subject to judicial review, that a government's majority must be tested on the floor of the House, and that the assembly should not be dissolved before Parliament approves the proclamation.

Key features and provisions

• Grounds: the President is satisfied, on the Governor's report or otherwise, that the state government cannot be carried on according to the Constitution; Article 365 adds failure to follow Union directions.
• Approval: both Houses of Parliament must approve within two months by simple majority.
• Duration: six months at a time, up to one year; beyond one year and up to three years only if a national emergency is in force and the Election Commission certifies that elections cannot be held (44th Amendment).
• Effects: the President takes over state executive powers; Parliament or the President makes laws for the state; the High Court's powers remain untouched.
• Assembly: may be dissolved or kept in suspended animation.