MPPSC 2022 Prelims Paper-I · Question 18 of 100

Correct — C, Three. President's Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution has been imposed in Madhya Pradesh on three occasions: 1977 (following the post-Emergency political realignment), 1980 (when Indira Gandhi's Congress government, freshly returned to power at the Centre, dismissed several Janata-Party-run state governments, including Madhya Pradesh), and December 1992 (after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, when several BJP-run state governments — Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh — were dismissed).

• (a)One — Understates the count — Madhya Pradesh has seen more than one spell of President's Rule.
• (b)Two — Understates the count as officially recorded.
• (d)Four — Overstates the count as officially recorded.

Article 356 empowers the President to assume the functions of a State government when its constitutional machinery is deemed to have failed, usually on the Governor's report. It is a Union-State relations mechanism, not an automatic or routine event — it has historically clustered around major national political shake-ups.

Exam-setters expect students to know not just what Article 356 says, but concrete instances of its use in specific states. Three of the biggest waves of President's Rule imposition across multiple states were 1977 (post-Emergency, Janata Party government dismissing Congress state governments), 1980 (Congress's return to power dismissing Janata-Party-run state governments), and December 1992 (post-Babri Masjid demolition, dismissing BJP state governments) — Madhya Pradesh was affected in all three.

• Article 356: President's Rule for failure of constitutional machinery in a State
• Madhya Pradesh has had President's Rule imposed three times in its history
• One spell followed the political changes of 1977; another followed Congress's return to power in 1980
• A third spell followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, alongside UP, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh

• Confusing the general Article 356 provision with the state-specific historical count
• Mixing up the count/years for Madhya Pradesh with those of other states like Rajasthan or Uttar Pradesh

MPPSC likes exact historical counts and dates specific to Madhya Pradesh (President's Rule spells, number of times Assembly dissolved, etc.), while UPSC tends to test the constitutional provision and judicial safeguards (Bommai case) more than state-specific counts.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Article of the Constitution of India provides for the imposition of President's Rule in a State on failure of constitutional machinery?

  • (a)Article 352
  • (b)Article 356
  • (c)Article 360
  • (d)Article 368

  Answer(b) Article 356 — failure of constitutional machinery in a State.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In which landmark case did the Supreme Court hold that the President's satisfaction under Article 356 is subject to judicial review?

  • (a)Kesavananda Bharati case
  • (b)S.R. Bommai case
  • (c)Minerva Mills case
  • (d)Golaknath case

  Answer(b) S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) — laid down that Article 356 proclamations are subject to judicial review.