Article 370: Kashmir’s Special Status and Its 2019 Removal

Jammu and Kashmir held a special constitutional position for over seven decades. That status was removed in a single day in 2019, using a legal mechanism the Supreme Court later had to rule on directly. This article covers what Article 370 actually did, how the government removed it, and how the courts and current affairs have responded since.

1.What did Article 370 actually do?

For most of India’s constitutional history, Jammu and Kashmir’s position was legally unlike any other state’s.

• Article 370 gave Jammu and Kashmir its own separate constitution and lawmaking power.
• The state could make its own laws in most areas, except defence, foreign affairs, and communications.
• Most provisions of the Indian Constitution did not automatically apply to Jammu and Kashmir unless specifically extended.
• In August 2019, the government revoked these special provisions through presidential orders and parliamentary resolutions.
• The state was reorganised into two union territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

2.What happened in the days before the announcement?

Before Parliament had even voted, the ground was already being prepared.

• The government cut off cable TV, landline phones, mobile phones, and the internet across Kashmir.
• A curfew shut down the whole region.
• Former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were placed under preventive detention, along with other local leaders.
• This lockdown happened before Parliament had even voted, to prevent protests before the decision was final.

3.What legal mechanism removed Article 370?

The method used was unusual, because the body meant to approve such a change no longer existed.

• Article 370 could only be amended with the concurrence of Jammu and Kashmir’s own Constituent Assembly.
• That body had dissolved itself in 1957, decades earlier.
• Presidential Order C.O. 272, issued on 5 August 2019, amended Article 367 to redefine “Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir” as “Legislative Assembly of the State” for this purpose.
• Jammu and Kashmir was under President’s Rule at the time, so Parliament itself gave the required concurrence, acting in the state legislature’s place.
• A second order, C.O. 273, then declared Article 370’s provisions inoperative.

4.How did Parliament vote on the change?

The vote itself carried a detail that made headlines on its own.

• Home Minister Amit Shah moved the resolution and the reorganisation bill in the Lok Sabha.
• By coincidence, the reorganisation bill passed by exactly 370 votes in favour, 70 against.
• The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, took effect on 31 October 2019.
• It split the former state into two Union Territories — one with a legislature, one without.

5.Why is this change still contested?

The debate over this episode runs deeper than the mechanism alone.

• Article 370’s design reflected the specific, contested circumstances of Kashmir’s 1947 accession to India.
• It granted a level of autonomy not given to any other Indian state.
• The 2019 revocation ended an arrangement that had lasted over seventy years.
• The government’s choice of the Article 367 reinterpretation route, rather than reviving the dissolved assembly, became the central legal question the Supreme Court had to resolve.

6.How did the Supreme Court rule in 2023?

The legal question eventually reached India’s highest court, more than four years after the revocation.

• A five-judge bench ruled unanimously on 11 December 2023.
• It upheld the government’s action as a valid use of presidential power.
• It also directed elections and the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.

Exam Angle

7.Where does statehood stand today?

Elections came, but full statehood has not followed yet.

• On 16 October 2024, Omar Abdullah was sworn in as Chief Minister, after his National Conference won 42 of 90 seats in J&K’s first Assembly election since 2019.
• As of August 2026, J&K still hasn’t been restored to full statehood, despite the Court’s 2023 direction.
• On 5 August 2026, the seventh anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the abrogation a “defining milestone,” linking it to reformer Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s 125th birth anniversary.
• The same day, the ruling National Conference publicly pressed the Centre on when statehood would actually be restored.