Article 356

The Indian Constitution consists of three types of emergencies which are:

• Article 352 which is National Emergency.
• President’s Rule in a State comes under Article 356.
• Financial Emergency which comes under Article 360.

Article 356 has been imposed a lot of times in India it was first imposed in Punjab in the year 1951 on June 20, and the duration of it was 302 days. The longest term or duration of Article 356 of the Indian Constitution was 6 years and 264 days which was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir.

Article 356

State Emergency comes under Article 356 of the Indian Constitution which allows the Indian President to impose his rule in a particular state and rule out the state’s government. Article 356 is used around 115 times till 2016. The highest number of times it has been imposed in Manipur is 10 followed by Uttar Pradesh which 9, third is Punjab where it was imposed 8 times. Overall Article 356 of the Indian Constitution is roughly imposed in all the states and territories roughly. Let us see the top 8 maximum duration for which it was imposed in a particular state:

• Jammu and Kashmir: 6 years, 264 days.
• Punjab: 4 years, 259 days.
• Puducherry: 3 years 96 days.
• Madhya Pradesh: 2 years, 340 days.
• Nagaland: 2 years, 250 days.
• Kerala: 2 years, 177 days.
• Manipur: 2 years, 157 days.
• Jammu and Kashmir: 2 years, 143 days.

Let us check the top 8 minimum duration for which it was imposed in a particular state:

• West Bengal: 7 days
• Karnataka: 7 days
• Maharashtra: 11 days
• Odisha: 13 days
• Jammu and Kashmir: 15 days.
• Uttar Pradesh: 17 days.
• Uttarakhand: 19 days.
• Bihar: 25 days.

Provisions

The State emergency or Article 356 provides the President to rule out the government of the particular state or Union Territory and enforce his own rule in that particular state or Union Territory. The President must be satisfied that the situation has occurred where the state government cannot work in consonance with the provisions of the Indian Constitution. Article 356 of the Indian Constitution has some provisions which are:

• The Legislative Assembly is either dismissed completely or suspended. There is no Council of ministers when it is imposed.
• Union Government directly rules over the state or the union territory.
• The President’s rule can only be imposed after it has been approved by both the houses which are Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
• The maximum duration of the emergency but it can be extended and needs to be approved by both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha every six months.

Revocation procedure

• Article 356 can be revoked by the President of India at any time by proclamation.
• The proclamation does not require any type of approval from any of the houses.

Reasons for Imposition of Article 356

Let us read about some reasons for the imposition of Article 356:

• Andhra Pradesh (1st term): Disruption of Law and order in the state.
• Andhra State (1st term): Failure of majority.
• Bihar: Bihar has a lot of instances of failure of majority in the legislative assembly 3 times continuously it was imposed in Bihar due to lack of a majority.
• Bihar: 2 times Article 356 was imposed due to the dismissal of the Government in spite of the majority which was enjoyed by the then minister.
• Goa: The then Chief Minister resigned because of disqualification by the High Court, and no other party was viable.

National Emergency of India

The first time National Emergency in India was imposed by the orders of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi across the country which lasted for 21 months from 1975 to 1977 under Article 352 of the Indian Constitution. This was the first time a National emergency in India was ever imposed. It was imposed because of the internal disturbance which was ongoing at that time.

Conclusion

Article 352 has been imposed in India several times and the number will continue to rise. It has helped a lot of time to revive a state from a severe position and bring it back on track with the provisions of the constitution.