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Under Article 352, a National Emergency proclamation must be approved by both Houses of Parliament within 1 month by ______ majority, ensuring democratic oversight of executive emergency powers.
- simple
- special
- two-thirds
- unanimous
Answer: special
Parliamentary oversight of Emergency: (a) Constitutional text: Emergency proclamation must be approved by both Houses of Parliament within 1 month by special majority: (i) Majority of total membership of each House, AND (ii) 2/3 of members present and voting, (b) 44th Amendment safeguard (1978): Changed from simple majority to special majority to prevent narrow majorities from imposing Emergency, (c) Rationale: (i) Democratic consensus: Special majority ensures Emergency reflects broad political agreement, not narrow partisan interest, (ii) Crisis legitimacy: High threshold enhances legitimacy of Emergency measures, public acceptance, (iii) Prevent misuse: Prevents ruling party from imposing Emergency without broad support, (d) Applications: (i) Post-1978: No National Emergency proclaimed, reflecting effectiveness of safeguards, (ii) Political accountability: Government must build broad consensus for Emergency, enhancing democratic legitimacy, (e) Illustrates calibrated emergency powers: Special majority ensures Emergency reflects genuine national consensus; balance between crisis response capacity and prevention of political misuse.