Imposition of President’s rule in Maharashtra on Tuesday is the first instance in the 59-year-old history of the state when Article 356 has been invoked due to inability of political parties to form a government after an assembly election.
Overall, this is third time that Maharashtra has come under the central rule. The present-day Maharashtra came into existence on May 1, 1960.
The first of it was in February 1980 when the Indira Gandhi government dismissed the Progressive Democratic Front government headed by Sharad Pawar. Assembly election held in June that year saw the Congress returning to power in the politically important state and AR Antulay becoming Chief Minister.
Pawar was Chief Minister from 1978 to 1980. He had formed the PDF after toppling the Vasantdada Patil-led Congress government in 1978. Pawar was a minister in the Patil government.
Gandhi dismissed the PDF government after returning to power at the Centre in the 1980 Lok Sabha polls.
The state saw the second spell of President’s rule after 34 more years. President’s rule was imposed after Prithviraj Chavan resigned as Chief Minister following withdrawal of support by ally NCP to the Congress-led government on Sept. 28, 2014.
The two allies had drifted apart on the issue of equal sharing of assembly seats and chief minister’s post. The 2014 assembly election was held when the state was under President’s rule.
