The Prime Minister who never faced Parliament

The Janata Party government that had governed since the 1977 election splintered in 1979, and Charan Singh — who had briefly been Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister under Morarji Desai — formed a new government on 28 July 1979 as head of the Janata Party (Secular), relying on outside support from Indira Gandhi's Congress(I) to get a majority.

That support didn't last three weeks. Congress(I) withdrew its backing on 19 August 1979, reportedly after Singh declined to drop the legal cases against Indira Gandhi that had been opened following the Emergency. Facing a confidence motion he could not win, Singh chose not to contest it at all: he resigned and advised the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha rather than let the House vote.

The President accepted that advice, and the Lok Sabha was dissolved for fresh elections in January 1980. Charan Singh remains the only Prime Minister in India's history who never once faced Parliament during his term — 23 days as caretaker, with no confidence vote, no budget, no session at all.