RULE OF LAW AS A PILLAR OF DEMOCRACY IN THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

The Rule of Law is a key premise of constitutional democracy. It assumes the rule of law, the subjection of all individuals to law, the protection of individual rights and the availability of independent tribunals to evaluate illegal governmental conduct. Though the phrase “Rule of Law” is not specifically mentioned in the Preamble to the Constitution of India, its essence is embedded in the constitutional structure through constitutional supremacy, equality before law, fundamental rights, judicial review, separation of powers, independent judiciary, free and fair elections and accountable government. The Indian Supreme Court has gradually evolved the Rule of Law from a broad constitutional aspiration into an actionable concept. Since Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala the Court has acknowledged that some essential characteristics of the Constitution cannot be removed even by constitutional change. The principle has been reinforced by subsequent decisions such as Indira Nehru Gandhi v Raj Narain, Maneka Gandhi v Union of India, Minerva Mills v Union of India, L Chandra Kumar v Union of India, I.R. Coelho v State of Tamil Nadu, K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India, Shayara Bano v Union of India, Navtej Singh Johar v Union of India, Joseph Shine v Union of India and Anuradha Bhasin v Union of India. The recent rulings show that the Rule of Law is developing to tackle present-day concerns such as electoral democracy, constitutional governance, administrative accountability and the use of artificial intelligence in adjudication. In Vijay Bahadur v Sunil Kumar (2025), the Supreme Court has underlined the connection between democracy, free and fair elections and the Rule of Law. In the case of Pooja Ramesh Singh v Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd (2026), the Court examined the negative consequences of dependence on AI-generated bogus or hallucinated precedents and stressed the need for accuracy and human accountability in judicial decision-making. The article seeks to critically explore the constitutional underpinnings, judicial progress, democratic importance, present issues and future possibilities of the Rule of Law in India.