LANDMARK CASE
Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain
1975 Supp SCC 1 · Supreme Court of India · Constitutional law
At a glance
- Citation: 1975 Supp SCC 1
- Court: Supreme Court of India
- Area of law: Constitutional law
- In one line: Clause 4 of Article 329A was struck down for violating the basic structure, including free and fair elections.
1 Facts
The Allahabad High Court set aside Indira Gandhi's election, and Parliament passed the 39th Amendment to protect it from courts.
2 Issue
Can Parliament validate an election by constitutional amendment, excluding judicial review?
3 What the court decided
Clause 4 of Article 329A was struck down for violating the basic structure, including free and fair elections.
4 Why it matters
The first application of the basic structure doctrine to strike down an amendment.
5 Think about it
How does this case show the basic structure doctrine working in practice?
6 Analyse it yourself
Read the full judgment from an official source or a law database, then brief it in seven steps: facts, issues, arguments, decision, ratio, obiter and significance. Always check the citation before you rely on it.
7 More cases on Constitutional law
- A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras AIR 1950 SC 27
- ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla (1976) 2 SCC 521
- Air India v. Nergesh Meerza (1981) 4 SCC 335
- Ajay Hasia v. Khalid Mujib Sehravardi (1981) 1 SCC 722
- Anuj Garg v. Hotel Association of India (2008) 3 SCC 1
- Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020) 3 SCC 637
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