Karnataka crown in governor's hands, but there is no set convention for him to follow

As the epicentre of Karnataka politics shifts to Bangalore's Raj Bhavan, with both the BJP and the newly minted Congress-JD(S) alliance flocking to meet Governor Vajubhai Vala, all eyes are trained on what the governor does next.  

Who will get to govern Karnataka now depends on which party the governor invites to form the government, which will then have to prove its majority in the Assembly within a stipulated period of time.

The numbers game in Karnataka changed dramatically after the Congress reached out to the JD(S), offering it the CM’s chair. Alongside, trends indicated the BJP would fail to get a clear majority. The saffron party, however, will still emerge as the single largest party.

So is there a set path the governor is supposed to follow? How much depends on his “discretion” ? Going by the Constitution and precedence, a lot.  

Sequel to Goa, Manipur?

The situation in Karnataka is full of multiple ironies for both the national parties. On May 15, BJP CM candidate BS Yeddyurappa accused the Congress of “power grabbing” despite being rejected by the people.

However, this is exactly what his own party had done recently, in not one but two states, Goa and Manipur. In both states, the Congress had more MLAs, but the BJP managed to stich together post-poll alliances and come to power after the governors invited it to form the government instead of the Congress.

The Congress, which is hoping Vala does the same thing in Karnataka, had moved the Supreme Court against the Goa CM’s swearing in. The court, however, had refused to interfere.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley had then defended the Goa governor. “In a hung assembly, if majority of the elected MLAs form a coalition, the Governor would be constitutionally right in inviting the leader of the majority coalition to form the government and prove their majority within a short period,” he had tweeted.

Governor’s role

The Karnataka conundrum yet again brings to the fore a lacuna in the Constitution. There is no set rule of what is supposed to be done in the case of a hung Assembly, the governor is only supposed to “follow the convention”.

Governor Vajubhai Vala vacated his Rajkot seat for Narendra Modi in 2002 and even served as CM Modi’s finance minister. The RSS strongman now has a crucial role to play. Will he invite the largest party or the coalition with the largest numbers ? #KarnatakaElectionResults

— seemi pasha (@seemi_pasha) May 15, 2018

Another song for the day: Jaisa Ko taisa.. BJP robbed Cong of a win in Goa, Cong doing it to BJP in Karnataka! Again, a life lesson: when you choose power over morality in one state, you lose moral power in the next! #ResultOnKarnataka

— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) May 15, 2018

One set of conventions is that laid down by the Sarkaria Commission – set up in 1983 to examine the relationship between the states and the Centre – which was later affirmed by the SC in Rameshwar Prasad v Union of India in 2005. The conventions are to extend an invitation for government formation in the order of:

1. An alliance of parties formed prior to the elections.
2. The single largest party staking a claim to form the government, which in Karnataka is the BJP.
3. A post-electoral coalition of parties, such as the one between the Congress and JD(S).

However, there are other court judgments, such as the SR Bommai vs Union of India case of March 1994, where the SC had said that the only way to decide the legitimacy of a government was by “testing it on the floor of the House” to see if it had the requisite numbers.

Past cases

There are several instances in the past where the single largest party has not been invited to form the government.

In 2013 in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party was invited to form the government along with the Congress, although it had won 28 seats and the BJP 31 seats.

In 2005, the BJP was the single largest party in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly with 30 seats. However, the JMM holding 17 seats with the support of others was invited to form the government.

In both the cases, the role of the governor was not called into question.

However, in 2006, the Supreme Court had indicted former Bihar governor Buta Singh, who had the year before that not allowed Nitish Kumar of the NDA to form the government. The RJD, the single largest party, had failed to reach the majority mark even with the support of the Congress and the others, but Singh had said allowing the NDA to form the government would have resulted in “horse-trading and unethical practices”.

Thus, the governor’s responsibility in the case of a hung Assembly is immense. Vala is a BJP veteran, who had, in 2001, vacated his Assembly seat of Rajkot West for a certain Narendra Damodardas Modi.

However, the role of a governor is above party loyalties. Vala’s decision will now seal the fate of not just Karnataka, but also set a precedent for the future.

Also read: 10 reasons why BJP crushed Congress and took a massive lead in Karnataka