Raj Bhavan faces old conundrum

Malhotra said since the possibilities are many at this stage, the governor would likely wait and watch. “JD(S) is purportedly with the Congress, but what if the JD(S) gets lured by the BJP and gets the deputy chief minister’s post and ministerial berths at the Centre?”

The JD(S) has two Lok Sabha members.

The governor, however, doesn’t have indefinite time to take a call. “All this has been well synthesized in the SR Bommai judgment of the Supreme Court. The Governor has to act within a reasonable time-frame and not sit on a decision indefinitely,” Hegde said, referring to a case dating back to 1989.

The Constitution itself says little on who the invite should go out to when no party gets a majority. Article 75 merely states that the “Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President”. Likewise, Article 164 states that the “chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor”.

While there’s no scripted path, experts say the first option is to look for a party or a pre-poll alliance which commands a majority. If the Governor can’t find any, then he has to look for a post-poll alliance. He could then choose to invite the single-largest party.

The 1983 Sarkaria Commission, the first panel to review Centre-state relations, expressly recommends inviting the single largest party first to avoid any controversy. “This has been upheld by the Supreme Court in one of its judgements,” Malhotra said.

The landmark Sarkaria Com-