NEW DELHI: The Constitution of India empowers the governor to appoint chief minister but it remains silent on the issue of his\her role in case of a fractured mandate. As a result, it’s entirely the governor’s discretion whom to call for government formation when there is no clear majority to a single political party or a coalition of the pre-poll alliance partners.
Though the Justice R S Sarkaria Commission has dealt with the issue and clearly spelt out options and order of preference before the governor, it recognised the importance of the latter’s “subjective judgement”.
So, the governor may or may not adhere to what the Commission suggested on giving leader of single largest party precedence over the leader of the post-poll coalition partners. The governor may rather go for appointing a person as chief minister whom he thinks can command majority of the Assembly and that person can either be a leader of the largest political party or a leader of the post-poll coalition.
“It is entirely up to the governor to appoint anyone he thinks proper. The governor is, however, expected to be guided by his assessment of who is likely to command majority support in the House. So, he is expected to appoint only that person as chief minister who in his opinion is likely to command majority support,” said the constitutional expert Subhash C Kashyap.
Kashyap, former secretary-general of the
Lok Sabha, told TOI on Tuesday that the governor may go wrong in his assessment but it doesn’t take away from him his right to appoint anyone as chief minister whom he thinks can prove his majority at the floor of the Assembly.
“It is, however, clearly spelt out that the majority can be proved only at the floor of the House”, he said.
Asked about the
Karnataka situation where the
BJP is the single largest party whereas the Congress-JD (S) combine staked claim for government formation as a post-poll coalition, Kashyap said, “We had all kinds of precedents. There are precedents of single largest party leader being appointed chief minister and also the precedents of leader of post-poll alliance being appointed as chief minister. The governor can take a call in this case as per his assessment.”
The Sarkaria Commission, which reviewed working of arrangements between the Union and the States, in its recommendations on role of governor clearly says if there is no single party having an absolute majority in the Assembly, the governor should select a chief minister from among the following parties or group of parties by sounding them, in turn, in the order of preference indicated below:
1. An alliance of parties that was formed prior to the elections;
2. The largest single party staking a claim to form the government with the support of others, including “independents”;
3. A post-electoral coalition of parties, with all the partners in the coalition joining the government;
4. A post-electoral alliance of parties, with some of the parties in the alliance forming a government and the remaining parties, including “independents” supporting the government from outside.
It, however, says, “The governor, while going through the process of selection described above, should select a leader who, in his judgement, is most likely to command a majority in the Assembly. The governor's subjective judgement will play an important role.”
The Sarkaria Commission on the centre-state relations was constituted in 1983. The Commission after holding detailed deliberations on various issues submitted its 1600-page report to the government in January 1988. The report contains 247 recommendations.
