Which amendment was made in the background of the ruling of the Allahabad High Court in the Indira Gandhi case?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Elections of Prime Minister, President and Vice President cannot be challenged in the Court.
Option (1) Reservation of OBCs in the Parliament and state legislatures. — Incorrect. The amendment made after the Allahabad ruling was about the elections of the Prime Minister, President and Vice-President. Reservation for the OBCs came up separately, when the National Front government decided in 1990 to implement the Mandal Commission’s recommendation of reserved jobs in central government.
Option (2) The Prime Minister’s power to declare Emergency without approval of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha — Incorrect. No amendment gave the Prime Minister such a power, and the Speaker has no role in approving an Emergency.
Option (3) Elections of Prime Minister, President and Vice President cannot be challenged in the Court. — Correct. The Allahabad High Court had declared Indira Gandhi’s election invalid, and in that background an amendment declared that elections of the Prime Minister, President and Vice-President could not be challenged in the Court.
Option (4) Duration of the legislatures in the country can be extended by one month at a time during Emergency. — Incorrect. The forty-second amendment extended the duration of the legislatures from five to six years, as a permanent change, and during an Emergency elections can be postponed by one year. Nothing extends a legislature one month at a time, and this was not the amendment linked to the Allahabad ruling.
NCERT (2025-26): “Consequences … The Parliament also brought in many new changes to the Constitution. In the background of the ruling of the Allahabad High Court in the Indira Gandhi case, an amendment was made declaring that elections of Prime Minister, President and Vice-President could not be challenged in the Court. The forty-second amendment was also passed during the Emergency. You have already studied that this amendment consisted of a series of changes in many parts of the Constitution. Among the various changes made by this amendment, one was that the duration of the legislatures in the country was extended from five to six years. This change was not only for the Emergency period, but was intended to be of a permanent nature. Besides this, during an Emergency, elections can be postponed by one year.…” |