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The Supreme Court has held that democratic governance, including free and fair elections, universal adult suffrage, and multi-party system, is part of the basic structure, meaning Parliament cannot amend the Constitution to establish ______ rule or abolish elections.
- monarchical
- authoritarian
- theocratic
- any of the above
Answer: any of the above
Democracy as basic structure: (a) Core democratic features as basic structure: (i) Free and fair elections (Articles 324-329), (ii) Universal adult suffrage (Article 326), (iii) Multi-party system, political competition, (iv) Rule of law, judicial review of executive/legislative action, (v) Separation of powers, checks and balances, (b) Unamendable core: Parliament cannot amend Constitution to: (i) Establish monarchical/authoritarian/theocratic rule, (ii) Abolish elections, universal suffrage, (iii) Eliminate judicial review, separation of powers, (iv) Destroy federalism, secularism, individual rights forming democratic framework, (c) Applications: (i) Electoral reforms: Amendments must preserve free/fair elections, not undermine electoral integrity, (ii) Emergency provisions: Cannot be amended to enable permanent authoritarian rule, (iii) Judicial independence: Cannot be amended to eliminate judicial review of rights violations, (d) Rationale: (i) Democratic identity: Democracy essential to constitutional identity (Preamble: 'We the people', 'Democratic Republic'), (ii) Popular sovereignty: Constitution derives authority from people; cannot be amended to destroy popular sovereignty, (iii) Rights protection: Democracy ensures rights protection through accountability, participation, (e) Illustrates basic structure protection: Democratic governance as unamendable core; amendment power cannot destroy foundational democratic features essential to constitutional identity.