President’s rule is imposed even during Narendra Modi as Prime Minister

A post comparing the instances of President’s rule imposed in various states during Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi tenures as Prime Minister is doing rounds on social media. The post claims that the President’s rule is never imposed during Modi’s tenure while the same was imposed 39 times during the tenure of Indira Gandhi. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.

Claim: President’s rule is never imposed during Modi’s tenure as PM, while the same was imposed 39 times during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as PM.

Fact: As per the information available in the Parliament library and the information obtained through RTI, President’s rule was imposed even during Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial stint. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.

President’s Rule:

President’s Rule refers to the suspension of a state government and the imposition of direct rule of the Centre. In the event of the failure of constitutional machinery in the states or in cases where no party is able to form the government, the President is empowered under Article 356 to impose President’s rule on the advice of the council of ministers. President’s rule is also known as State Emergency.

As per the information available in parliament library enumerating the events of proclamation of President’s rule in states on different occasions from 1947 to 2016, President rule is imposed in three instances between 2014-16 after Narendra Modi assuming the position of Prime Minister. President’s rule is imposed in Maharashtra on 28-9-2014, in Arunachal Pradesh on 26-1-2016 and in Uttarakhand on 27-3-2016.

A 2019 RTI query reveals that President’s rule is imposed in Maharashtra on 12-11-2019 due to political instability which was eventually revoked on 23-11-2019.

Whereas another RTI query reveals that President’s rule is imposed in Jammu and Kashmir due to political instability on 19-12-2018 which was later revoked on 31-10-2019. News articles about the timeline of the imposition of President rule on different occasions in different states in India can be read here and here.

However, since independence, President’s rule was imposed on several occasions in different states. President’s rule is imposed for the first time in 1951 during Jawaharlal Nehru’s tenure. Overall during his tenure, it was imposed 7 times whereas during the tenure of Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister, President’s rule was imposed in states on 48 occasions, highest under any Prime Minister. During the tenures of Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narshima Rao and Manmohan Singh, President’s rule is imposed on 6, 11, and 10 occasions respectively. Even during the tenure of Narendra Modi, President’s rule is imposed on 5 occasions.

Earlier FACTLY has written stories on how many times President’s rule is imposed in different states and under whose regime, President’s rule is imposed the most number of times which can be read here and here.

To sum it up, President’s rule has been imposed on several occasions under the tenure of various Prime Ministers since 1951 including the current PM Narendra Modi.