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www.GOALias.blogspot.com108 Politics in India since Independencedecision in 1973 in the Kesavananda Bharati case, a vacancy arosefor the post of the Chief Justice of India. It had been a practice toappoint the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as the ChiefJustice. But in 1973, the government set aside the seniority ofthree judges and appointed Justice A. N. Ray as the Chief Justiceof India. The appointment became politically controversial becauseall the three judges who were superseded had given rulings againstthe stand of the government. Thus, constitutional interpretationsand political ideologies were getting mixed up rapidly. People closeto the Prime Minister started talking of the need for a judiciary andthe bureaucracy ‘committed’ to the vision of the executive and thelegislature. The climax of the confrontation was of course the rulingof the High Court declaring Indira Gandhi’s election invalid.Declaration of EmergencyOn 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad HighCourt passed a judgment declaring Indira Gandhi’s election to theLok Sabha invalid. This order came on an election petition filed by RajNarain, a socialist leader and a candidate who had contested againsther in 1971. The petition, challenged the election of Indira Gandhion the ground that she had used the services of government servantsin her election campaign. The judgment of the High Court meant thatlegally she was no more an MP and therefore, could not remain thePrime Minister unless she was once again elected as an MP within sixmonths. On June 24, the Supreme Court granted her a partial stay onMP but could not take part in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.Crisis and responseThat is like askingthe army to disobeythe government! Isthat democratic?The stage was now set for a big political confrontation. The oppositionpolitical parties led by Jayaprakash Narayan pressed for IndiraGandhi’s resignation and organised a massive demonstration inDelhi’s Ramlila grounds on 25 June 1975. Jayaprakash announceda nationwide satyagraha for her resignation and asked the army, thepolice and government employees not to obey “illegal and immoralorders”. This too threatened to bring the activities of the governmentto a standstill. The political mood of the country had turned againstthe Congress, more than ever before.The response of the government was to declare a state of emergency.On 25 June 1975, the government declared that there was a threatof internal disturbances and therefore, it invoked Article 352 of theConstitution. Under the provision of this article the government coulddeclare a state of emergency on grounds of external threat or a threatof internal disturbances. The government decided that a grave crisishad arisen which made the proclamation of a state of emergencynecessary. Technically speaking this was within the powers of the