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Amid the ongoing conflict in Manipur and the tussle between Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Aam Aadmi Party Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the subject of President’s Rule has come up several times in recent political discourse.
In Manipur, where clashes between the Meiteis and Kukis have claimed more than 150 lives in Manipur since the start of May, Opposition parties have called for imposition of President’s Rule, which dismisses the government in a state or Union Territory (UT) and places it directly under central administration on grounds of failure of the constitutional machinery or in the event of an emergency, as per Article 356 of the Constitution. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, however, has said that the BJP-led state government has been “cooperative”.
In Punjab, the Governor has threatened to send his recommendation to President Droupadi Murmu to impose Central rule, accusing the AAP government of failing to reply to his queries on matters such as Assembly procedures, official appointments, Bills passed, and drug abuse in the state.
Punjab has experienced long durations under President’s Rule in the past, including 302 days when it was used the first time ever in 1951, after infighting in the Congress led to the state government’s collapse.
After President’s Rule has been imposed, both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha must ratify it by a simple majority within two months. The Constitution requires President’s Rule to be renewed every six months by Parliament, and it can be revoked by the President at any time.
Here’s a look at the history of President’s Rule in numbers.
Manipur, UP saw President’s Rule most frequently
Incidentally, Manipur and Punjab have seen among the most instances of President’s Rule since Article 356 was enshrined in the Constitution in 1950, according to data published by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. Manipur is tied with Uttar Pradesh for the most frequent imposition of President’s Rule, at 10 each. Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir follow with 9 each. Since 1950, President’s Rule has been imposed a total of 134 times across 29 states and UTs.
In 1977 alone, there were 14 impositions of President’s Rule following a two-year period of Emergency under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After the Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government defeated the incumbent Congress to win a majority in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, it dissolved 9 state assemblies citing the electorate’s “lack of confidence” in the state governments. Following the general elections in 1980, in which Indira Gandhi returned to power, she, too, dissolved state Assemblies and imposed President’s Rule in the same 9 states, after claiming the state governments no longer represented the electorate.
The next highest instances of President’s Rule came in 1992 at 6, of which 4 occurred in UP, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh due to communal violence following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, UP.
Since 1950, President’s Rule has been imposed at least once a year in 53 out of 74 years. The 1960s and 1970s saw the most frequent use of President’s Rule. The provision has been applied considerably less frequently since then.
Nearly 13 years of President’s Rule in J&K, over 10 in Punjab
Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab have seen the longest durations spent under President’s Rule, at 4,668 days (12 years, 9 months) and 3,878 days (10 years, 7 months), respectively, owing to the recurring spells of militant and separatist activity, and unstable law and order situations in both regions.
Puducherry, at 2,739 days or 7.5 years, saw the third longest duration of President’s Rule. The UT saw repeated cases of governments losing support in the Assembly due to infighting among coalition partners or defections. The most recent instance of President’s Rule was also in Puducherry in 2021, after the Congress-led government lost power in a vote of confidence.
Despite experiencing the highest number of separate instances of President’s Rule, UP and Manipur saw shorter durations, at 1,690 days (4 years, 7 months) and 1,511 days (4 years, 1 month), respectively. Only 8 states and UTs have seen less than a year of President’s Rule in total. Uttarakhand, a relatively new state, has spent just 44 days under President’s Rule, in 2016.
States and UTs have cumulatively seen 30,478 days under President’s Rule. On average, each instance of President’s Rule in India lasted 228 days (or more than 7 months).
At more than six years, J&K saw the longest single period under President’s Rule between 1990 and 1996, when heightened militancy led to communal violence and the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. The next longest President’s Rule was in Punjab for almost five years between 1987 and 1992 amid increased terrorist activity. The third longest – at 1,397 days – and the only currently active President’s Rule is in J&K, which has been without an elected government since 2019 after its special status was revoked and it was bifurcated into two new UTs.
At that point, J&K had already been under Governor’s Rule since June 2018 after the BJP withdrew its support to the Peoples Democratic Party-led government. Under the now-scrapped special provisions for J&K, on imposition of Article 356, the state went under Governor’s Rule (with the assent of the President), which could last up to six months, followed by President’s Rule.
The shortest duration of a President’s Rule has been 7 days, occurring on three occasions – in West Bengal (1962) after the death of CM Bidhan Chandra Roy, in Karnataka (1990) when communal violence led to the dissolution of the Assembly, and in Bihar (1995) to enable the passage of a vote-on-account for government expenditure until the results of Assembly polls were announced.
President’s Rule used 88 times under Congress, 51 times under Indira Gandhi alone
Since 1950, across the tenures of all six Congress Prime Ministers, President’s Rule has been imposed 88 times for a cumulative duration of 22,037 days. Congress governments imposed President’s Rule at a rate of just over three times every two years with an average duration of 250 days for each instance. In comparison, the Janata Dal and its offshoots imposed the longest average President’s Rule, at 347 days, despite the party being in office for just over three years. The BJP, during the nearly 16 years it has been in power at the Centre, has imposed President’s Rule at a rate about once per year, with an average duration of 180 days.
Barring I K Gujral, each of India’s 14 Prime Ministers has imposed President’s Rule during their tenures at least once. Indira Gandhi’s nearly 16 years in office saw President’s Rule implemented 51 times for a cumulative 12,943 days across states and UTs – the highest figures among all PMs. Though Jawaharlal Nehru was the longest-serving PM, for nearly 17 years, under him, President’s Rule was implemented just seven times. Despite their tenures lasting less than a year, the Janata Party’s Charan Singh (1979-1980) and the Janata Dal’s Chandra Shekhar (1990-1991) saw President’s Rule implemented five times each, the same number as Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his total of six years as the PM.
