The Emergency
Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi
Two weeks after a court voids her election, Indira Gandhi has a national emergency proclaimed on 25 June 1975; civil liberties are suspended for 21 months.
On 12 June 1975 the Allahabad High Court set aside Indira Gandhi's 1971 election on a petition by Raj Narain. On the night of 25 June President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed a proclamation of emergency on grounds of internal disturbance. Opposition leaders were jailed, the press was censored, and the 42nd Amendment rewrote much of the Constitution. Elections in March 1977 brought the Janata Party to power, and the emergency was lifted on 21 March.
For the map, the 42nd Amendment froze each state's share of Lok Sabha seats at the 1971 census figures, a freeze later extended to the first census after 2026. The Shah Commission documented arrests and forced sterilisations; how many of the sterilisations were coerced has never been settled.
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