The Supreme Court has consistently held that a governor has no option but to invite the single largest party or a post-poll alliance to form a government after elections, and cannot inquire into how the majority support was garnered. This principle has been established in landmark constitution bench rulings, from the S R Bommai judgment in 1994 to the Rameshwar Prasad judgment in 2006.
Rameshwar Prasad Judgment
In the Rameshwar Prasad case, the Supreme Court castigated the UPA government for dissolving the Bihar assembly and imposing President's rule based on a report from then Governor Buta Singh. The report claimed there was no pre-poll alliance between the Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and their coming together smacked of horse-trading of MLAs. Quoting the Bommai judgment, the majority in the 2006 ruling stated: "The action which results in preventing a political party from staking claim to form a government after an election on such fanciful assumptions, if allowed to stand, would be destructive of the democratic fabric."
The court further observed that if fanciful claims of horse-trading are taken as the basis to deny a party exhibiting majority support of MLAs the opportunity to stake claim to form a government, then "it may also be a handle to reject post-poll alignments and realignments on grounds of the same being unethical, plunging the country or the state to another election."
Post-Poll Alliances and Floor Test
The Supreme Court emphasized that if two or more parties come together after polls, it may be difficult to deny their claim of majority on the stated grounds of illegality. "These are the aspects better left to be determined by the political parties which, of course, must set healthy and ethical standards for themselves, but, in any case, the ultimate judgment has to be left to the electorate and the legislature comprising also of members of the opposition."
Laying emphasis on the floor test that must be faced by the party or coalition staking claim to form a government, the court struck down President's rule in Bihar and said: "Ultimately, majority shall have to be proved on the floor of the House."
S R Bommai Judgment
In the S R Bommai case, a constitution bench cautioned against misuse of gubernatorial powers to dismiss elected governments or dissolve a duly elected assembly. The court stated: "The very enormity of this power undoing the will of the people of a state by dismissing the duly constituted government and dissolving the duly elected legislative assembly must itself act as a warning against its frequent use or misuse, as the case may be. Every misuse of this power has its consequences which may not be evident immediately but surface in a vicious form a few years later."
