Before the Emergency became a midnight story, it had a courtroom preface. On the night of 25-26 June 1975, Opposition leaders were arrested, the presses were censored, and freedoms began to shrink. But the political chain of events that led to that night had been triggered two weeks earlier through a judge’s verdict in Allahabad. The Emergency is remembered through Delhi’s darkness. Its legal pre-history unfolded in daylight.

That daylight can be traced to two rooms of the Allahabad High Court. Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha sat in Court No. 5. When Indira Gandhi came to give evidence in the election petition filed by Raj Narain, challenging the then-PM’s Rae Bareli victory, the proceedings were held in Court No. 24. It stood at one end of the building — easier to secure without disrupting other courts.

The story began in the 1971 general elections. After the Congress split of 1969 and the early dissolution of the Lok Sabha in December 1970, the Opposition tried “Indira Hatao” and she answered with “Garibi Hatao”. In Rae Bareli, Indira Gandhi polled 1,83,309 votes, Raj Narain received 71,499.

For most candidates, that margin would have closed the matter. Raj Narain carried it to court. In April 1971, he filed an election petition........

© Indian Express