Rameshwar Prasad v. Union of India

This case, arising from the dissolution of the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 2005, reaffirmed and extended the principles laid down in S.R. Bommai. The Supreme Court declared the dissolution unconstitutional, holding that the Governor's recommendation was based on speculative grounds without concrete evidence. Uniquely, this was the first case where an assembly was dissolved before its first meeting. The Court held that the President's power under Article 356 cannot be exercised to prevent parties from staking claims to form government, even if majority was allegedly obtained through illegal means. The judgment strengthened safeguards against arbitrary use of Article 356 and emphasized that allegations of horse-trading should be dealt with through proper legal mechanisms, not by dissolving assemblies.