Consider the following statements:
- 1.The 44th Amendment to the Constitution of India introduced an Article placing the election of the Prime Minister beyond judicial review.
- 2.The Supreme Court of India struck down the 99th Amendment to the Constitution of India as being violative of the independence of judiciary.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) 2 only
Only statement 2 is correct. It was the 39th Amendment (1975) that inserted Article 329A to shield the Prime Minister's election from the courts, and the 44th Amendment (1978) removed it. The Supreme Court did strike down the 99th Amendment, which created the NJAC, in October 2015.
- ✗ 1. Article 329A, on elections of the Prime Minister and the Speaker, was inserted by the 39th Amendment in 1975. The 44th Amendment, passed after the Emergency, omitted it instead of introducing it.
- ✓ 2. In the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association case (16 October 2015), a five-judge Bench struck down the 99th Amendment and the NJAC scheme, holding that the Union Law Minister's place in the Commission and the 'eminent persons' clause breached judicial independence, part of the basic structure.
Remember · 39th Amendment (1975) inserted Article 329A for the Prime Minister's election; the 44th (1978) omitted it. The 99th Amendment (NJAC) was struck down on 16 October 2015.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 12 · Politics in India since Independence, Chapter 6 “an amendment was made declaring that elections of Prime Minister, President and Vice- President could not be challenged in the Court.”
- The Constitution (Thirty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1975, Legislative Department ↗ “Insertion of new article 329A.-In Part XV of the Constitution, after article 329, the following article shall be inserted”
- The Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978, Legislative Department ↗ “Omission of article 329A.-Article 329A of the Constitution shall be omitted.”
- Head notes, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India, 16 October 2015 (Supreme Court of India) ↗ “the entire Constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014 is liable to be set aside - The same is accordingly hereby struck down in its entirety, as being ultra vires the provisions of the Constitution”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·