Account for the legal and political factors responsible for the reduced frequency of using Article 356 by…

Question

Account for the legal and political factors responsible for the reduced frequency of using Article 356 by the Union Governments since mid 1990s.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Article 356 has been used far less since the mid-1990s because S.R. Bommai (1994) made proclamations judicially reviewable and coalition politics, the Rajya Sabha and Presidents raised the cost of misuse. Bommai's floor test and bar on premature dissolution let courts restore dismissed governments.

**Introduction**

Article 356, invoked repeatedly in its first four decades, often to dismiss opposition governments, has become rare since S.R. Bommai (1994), because law made misuse reviewable and politics made it costly.

**Legal Factors Behind the Decline**

SKETCH: timeline | Article 356 Reined In
- 1977-80 :: Mass dismissals
- 1988 :: Sarkaria Report
- 1994 :: S.R. Bommai
- 1997-98 :: President returns advice
- 2006 :: Rameshwar Prasad
- 2016 :: Governments restored

1. **Bommai safeguards**: The proclamation became justiciable, the floor test the only test of majority, and the Assembly could not be dissolved before both Houses approved.
2. **Courts undoing misuse**: Rameshwar Prasad (2006) struck down the Bihar dissolution, and in 2016 the Arunachal and Uttarakhand governments were restored.
3. **Commission benchmarks**: Sarkaria (1988) and Punchhi (2010) framed it as a last resort, and the 44th Amendment (1978) capped its duration.

**Political Factors Behind the Decline**

1. **Coalition compulsions**: From 1989 to 2014 Union governments relied on regional allies who resisted dismissals of State governments.
2. **Rajya Sabha and President**: Bihar's 1999 proclamation was revoked for want of Rajya Sabha support, and President K.R. Narayanan returned the Uttar Pradesh (1997) and Bihar (1998) recommendations.
3. **Fewer pretexts**: The Tenth Schedule (1985) curbed defections, so recent uses such as Maharashtra (2019) and Manipur (2025) followed genuine collapse.

**Way Forward**

1. **Codify and disclose**: Write Bommai's tests into Article 356, make the Governor's report public, and warn the State before any proclamation.
2. **Graded responses**: Use Article 355 directions and Punchhi's localised emergency for breakdowns short of constitutional failure.

**Conclusion**

Judicial review and political checks have turned Article 356 into an exceptional remedy, moving it towards the "dead letter" Ambedkar hoped for and strengthening cooperative federalism.

Account for the legal and political factors responsible for the reduced frequency of using Article 356 by the Union Governments since mid 1990s.

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