________ was the Governor of Madhya Pradesh when President's rule was imposed in Madhya Pradesh between 30.04.1977 to 23.06.1977.

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, Shri Satya Narayan Sinha. He was Governor of Madhya Pradesh from 8 March 1971 to 13 October 1977, so the whole of the 1977 President's rule (30 April - 23 June 1977) fell inside his term. That spell followed the Janata Party's Lok Sabha sweep of 1977: the Congress government of Shyama Charan Shukla was dismissed on 30 April 1977, the State was administered under Article 356, and Kailash Chandra Joshi was sworn in on 24 June 1977 as Madhya Pradesh's first non-Congress Chief Minister. Sinha had been a member of the Constituent Assembly and a long-serving Union Minister — he was Leader of the Lok Sabha and held the Information and Broadcasting and the Health portfolios — before coming to Raj Bhavan, Bhopal in 1971.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) He was Governor of Madhya Pradesh from 24 June 1993 to 21 April 1998 — sixteen years after this episode.  (c) Governor of Madhya Pradesh from 22 April 1998 to 7 May 2003, at the far end of the timeline from 1977.  (d) Bhagwat Dayal Sharma — the first Chief Minister of Haryana — was appointed Governor of Odisha in September 1977, months after this episode, and came to Madhya Pradesh only on 30 April 1980, holding the office in spells until 1984.

Concept: Article 356 lets the President, acting on a report from the Governor or otherwise, take over the functions of a State government when he is satisfied that the State's administration cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution. The Governor is not replaced — he stays in office and runs the State as the President's agent, while the State legislature's powers are exercised by or under the authority of Parliament. The proclamation must be approved by both Houses within two months, and thereafter runs in six-month blocks up to a maximum of three years, with the extra conditions the 44th Amendment attached to any extension beyond one year.

State PCS 2025 Q14 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q14 — Madhya Pradesh GK PYQ with Answer