Article 370 — Special Status of Jammu & Kashmir (Abrogated)

(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution,—

(a) the provisions of article 238 shall not apply in relation to the State of Jammu and Kashmir;

(b) the power of Parliament to make laws for the said State shall be limited to—

(i) those matters in the Union List and the Concurrent List which, in consultation with the Government of the State, are declared by the President to correspond to matters specified in the Instrument of Accession governing the accession of that State to the Dominion of India...

[Note: Article 370 was rendered largely inoperative by the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019 and the proclamation under Article 370(3) on 5 August 2019. The State was reorganised into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.]

Source: Constitution of India, as published by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

Article 370 was inserted as a 'temporary' provision under pressure of the Instrument of Accession (1947) and the special circumstances of J&K's accession to India. The state had its own Constitution (adopted 1956), its own penal code, and its own flag. Over subsequent decades, most of the Constitution was gradually extended to J&K by Presidential Orders. In August 2019, the government issued a Presidential Order under Article 370(1) — citing 'concurrence' of the J&K Governor (acting as the Constituent Assembly, since the state legislature was under President's Rule) — to render most of Article 370 inoperative and extend the full Indian Constitution to J&K. The state was bifurcated into two Union Territories. The Supreme Court in December 2023 upheld the abrogation in a unanimous decision (5-0) but directed elections to be held by September 2024.

• Article 356
• Article 368

Last reviewed: 1 June 2026