Article 356 and the President's Rule in India: A quick fact check

With less than twenty-four hours left before the polls to elect the fourteenth President of India, here is a quick look at Article 356 of the Indian Constitution and the President's Rule.

Article 356 of the Constitution is imposed on a state when the constitutional machinery fails. Article 356 has been widely criticised for giving provisions for the party/coalition in the centre to misuse democratic powers for political gains. Dr BR Ambedkar called it 'the death letter of Indian Constitution'. With few hours left before the polls to elect the fourteenth President of India, here is a quick look at Article 365 of the Indian Constitution and the imposition of President's Rule in the last two decades. 

President's Rule was imposed on twelve provinces of the country in the last two decades.Chhattisgarh and Telangana are the only states where President's rule hasn't been imposed so far. But Telangana fell under the ambit of Article 356 when it was part of state of Andhra Pradesh, following the resignation of Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh - Kiran Kumar Reddy.

In Jammu and Kashmir, failure of constitutional machinery results in Governor's rule, imposed by invoking Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Failure of Government, formation after fractured assembly verdict, loss of majority, collapse of coalition and death of CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed resulted in Governor's rule in recent times.

Collapse of the Harish Rawat government in April 2016, made Uttarkhand come under President's rule. It was lifted and later reinstated again by the Supreme Court, till it was finally lifted on 11 May 2016.

Loss of majority in the legislative assembly on three occasions between December 2009 and July 2013 kept Jharkhand under President's Rule for a total of 621 days - the most on any state in the last two decades.

PM Indira Gandhi tops the chart of Indian Prime Minister's who imposed the most number of President's rule upon states. During her tenure as the Indian PM from 1966- 77, and 1980- 84, it was imposed for a total of fifty times. The two-year term of Morarji Desai from1977-79 saw the provision being imposed for sixteen times.