Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi issued 77 ordinances between 1971 and 1977, which makes it three ordinances every two months.
Under fire for issuing 9 ordinances in quick succession, the eight-month-old Narendra Modi government is expected to share some numbers soon to show that previous governments too have chosen to use emergency executive orders liberally.
After opposition parties joined hands to ensure that the government was unable to push key legislation through the Rajya Sabha during the winter session, the latter opted for issuing ordinances for these. The opposition promptly accused the government of attempting to undermine Parliament.
On Monday, President Pranab Mukherjee cautioned the government against opting for the ordinance route even in the case of normal legislation "that could have waited".
Many senior ministers agree with the president, but add that the opposition's disruption of Parliament has forced its hands. They also point to some startling statistics on ordinances issued since 1952.
Between 1952-2014, governments issued 637 ordinances; that averages out to 11 per year or almost one ordinance a month.
Of these 456 were issued in about 50 years of rule and by six Prime Ministers of the Congress, which is at the forefront of the attack on the Modi government on ordinances.
Record books show that India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of the Congress cleared about 70 ordinances between 1952 to 1964. His daughter Indira Gandhi issued 77 Ordinances during 1971-77, at the rate of almost three ordinances every two months.
Mrs Gandhi's son Rajiv issued 35 ordinances in five years as PM.
All these three Congress Prime Ministers issued the many ordinances despite running governments with a majority in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The minority Congress government of PV Narasimha Rao issued 77 ordinances in its five year term.
Interestingly, the Left-backed United Front government - which was supported by the Congress from the outside - passed only 61 Bills during its 1996-98 term under two PMs, HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral, but issued a record 77 ordinances at a strike rate of more than 3 per month.
The NDA government headed by the BJP's Atal Bihari Vajpayee issued 58 ordinances between 1998 and 2004, at a strike rate of almost nine per year.
The Manmohan Singh government or UPA I issued 36 ordinances and UPA II, with its improved numbers, issued 25. Which means UPA took recourse to ordinances six times a year in its 10-year term.