Account for the legal and political factors responsible for the reduced frequency of using Article 356 by the Union Governments since mid 1990s. (Answer in 250 words)

Article 356 permits President’s Rule when a state government cannot function constitutionally, but its earlier political misuse was curtailed by constitutional doctrine and coalition politics.

Legal factors

• In S.R. Bommai, the Supreme Court made proclamations judicially reviewable and required objective material.
• The floor test became the preferred method to establish majority, reducing subjective gubernatorial reports.
• Parliamentary approval, time limits and judicial restoration of a dismissed government increased costs of misuse.
• Federal constitutionalism and the basic-structure principle reinforced restraint.

Political factors

• Coalition governments and regional parties made arbitrary dismissal politically risky.
• Electoral competition, media scrutiny and stronger state-level mandates raised reputational costs.
• Inter-state political bargaining encouraged negotiated solutions to instability.

Misuse has not vanished: gubernatorial discretion and hung assemblies remain contentious. Transparent reports, prompt floor tests and convention-based restraint are necessary to preserve cooperative federalism.

polity, federalism, Article 356, President’s Rule