From 23-3-1956 to 23-5-1982: President's Rule in Kerala at a Glance

Background

The Governor has lately referred a matter to the President of India, which puts the Centre's role in a State's affairs back in the reading list, and the Kerala Legislature keeps its own record of the sharpest form of that role. The Legislature publishes a table titled President's Rule in Kerala at a Glance, with only a From and a To column. It lists seven spells in all. The first began before the State of Kerala itself came into being and ended in the first week of April 1957, when the first Council of Ministers took office. The second ran from the middle of 1959 to the start of 1960, and the third, the longest, from the autumn of 1964 to the spring of 1967. The fourth lasted two months in the latter half of 1970, and the fifth, from the end of 1979 into the start of 1980, was the shortest of all at about fifty days. Two more spells followed in 1981 and 1982, the last of them ending on 23-5-1982, and the State has had none since.