The Constitution of India
Article 83
Duration of Houses of Parliament
(1) The Council of States shall not be subject to dissolution, but as nearly as possible one-third of the members thereof shall retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year in accordance with the provisions made in that behalf by Parliament by law.
(2) The House of the People, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer and the expiration of the said period of five years shall operate as a dissolution of the House:
Provided that the said period may, while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, be extended by Parliament by law for a period not exceeding one year at a time and not extending in any case beyond a period of six months after the Proclamation has ceased to operate.
Why this exists
The framers wanted the Rajya Sabha to act as a stable, continuous body reflecting the federal character of India, ensuring institutional memory and continuity in the upper house, unlike the more politically volatile Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha, being directly elected, was given a fixed five-year term to balance democratic accountability with governmental stability. The Emergency proviso was added cautiously, learning from wartime and crisis governance elsewhere, to allow continuity of the elected government during genuine national emergencies without permitting indefinite postponement of elections.
How courts read it
There is no major Supreme Court ruling reinterpreting Article 83 itself, but its use became historically significant during the 1975-77 Emergency, when the Lok Sabha's term was extended under the proviso. This extension was widely criticized as an abuse of emergency powers, and the episode influenced the 44th Amendment (1978), which tightened the safeguards around proclaiming and continuing a Proclamation of Emergency, indirectly reinforcing the limits built into Article 83.
Common misconceptions
- Myth: The Lok Sabha's term can be extended indefinitely during an Emergency.
Fact: The Constitution allows extension only one year at a time, and never beyond six months after the Emergency ends. - Myth: The Rajya Sabha has a fixed term like the Lok Sabha.
Fact: The Rajya Sabha is a permanent, continuing body; it is never dissolved, though about a third of its members retire every two years.