Two phases of Lok Sabha elections are yet to be completed. No one knows what will happen on May 23 2019, but many opposition parties have begun to make gains from the government now, but they have a fear. It is that if the BJP emerged as the largest party in the circumstances of the hung Lok Sabha, then the President would not call for the formation of the government.
This has happened in 1996 when the then President Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma had called for the BJP to form the government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s leadership; BJP has won 161 seats then. They were unable to prove their majority and the government fell within thirteen days. But the opposition parties feel that if this were to happen this time, things can change because BJP can break small parties and gather them together to win the vote of confidence. That is why the 21 opposition parties are planning to meet the President after the last phase of polling on May 19, 2019.
They will perhaps say that when the hung Lok Sabha is being held, the biggest party will not be invited to form the government. These 21 parties can give a joint letter to the President even before the results arrive. It can be said that they would instead be called to form the government in case of a hung assembly. What does this unexpected and unprecedented step mean? What does the constitution say about this? There are currently two models. One Shankar Dayal Sharma’s, in which the biggest party was called to form the government. The second is K R Narayanan’s- it was implemented after the results of 1998 and 99.
In 1999 Atal Bihari Vajpayee was called to form the government when he handed over letters of support of 272 MPs to him. However, there is no rule or tradition to call the largest party to form the government; the precedent, however, was set in 1989. No party secured an absolute majority for the ninth Lok Sabha in 1989, and the Congress under Rajiv Gandhi was the largest minority party, with 193 MPs. After Rajiv Gandhi declined to form the government, the president invited V.P. Singh, leader of the second largest party, the Janata Dal.
Therefore, now the question is not of the biggest party, but also the largest coalition. If the model of Narayanan is implemented, then the largest coalition can also be asked to give 272 MPs’ letters. The coalition is also of two types. pre- Election alliance and after-election alliance. Who should get the chance? There are many such questions. The opposition already fears that the BJP is the largest party and the NDA can emerge as the largest coalition and is leaving no stone unturned to stop the ruling BJP from coming back in power again. What does this kind of drill mean before even before the announcement of results? But be reminded that in 2009, Congress itself started it. Even before the results came, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh had said that President Pratibha Patil should not call the biggest party to form the government.
So what will Ramnath Kovind do this time? Should the biggest party or coalition be called to form the government? Or those parties with the sacrosanct 272 figure? Constitution has nothing much to say about such a situation. In Article 75 (1) however, it is mentioned that the President will appoint the Prime Minister, but the condition or the scope for it has been left to the President’s discretion.
Well, in case such a situation takes place in the state assemblies, the role of the governor becomes very important. It has happened so many times that the largest party in the states was not given an opportunity to form a government, rather the governors have ended up sabotaging everything that a democratic election stands for.
In 2005, BJP got 30 seats out of Jharkhand’s 81 seats, but Jharkhand Mukti Morcha got an invitation to form a government. In 2002, the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir was the largest party after winning 28 seats, but the PDP with 15 seats and the Congress with 21 seats got an opportunity to form the government. In 2013, BJP became the largest party by winning 31 seats in Delhi, but the 28-member Aam Aadmi Party was invited to form the government after it managed to procure Congress’ support.
In 1999, Congress got 75 seats in Maharashtra and National Congress Party won 58 seats, but the Congress-NCP alliance formed after the elections, instead of the 125-seat BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, got the chance. It is important to keep in mind that in the Westminster system of democracy(that we comply with) the purpose of the election is not to choose a parliamentarian or a legislator but to choose a government. In such a situation, the President has to see who can form the government as the defender of the Constitution.