It is a travesty of the time-tested convention – which has the force of law behind it – that Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India without the 240 newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party MPs electing him as its leader and President Droupadi Murmu not asking him to seek a vote of confidence within a stipulated time frame.

Murmu invited him to form the government and take oath as PM after Modi was elected as leader of the NDA, of which the BJP is the principal party with 240 Lok Sabha seats, falling short of the majority mark of 272. But the NDA’s tally of 293, comprising all the seats won by parties of that alliance, could enable it to go past the strength needed for a majority.

Murmu should have ascertained before extending an invitation to Modi if he, apart from being elected leader of the NDA, was elected by the BJP MPs as their leader in the manner that was first done so by the BJP’s parliamentary party on May 20, 2014 in the Central Hall of the old parliament building.

That time, his name was proposed by L.K. Advani and seconded, among others, by Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitely and Nitin Gadkari.

It is rather inexplicable why the 2014 example of the BJP parliamentary party electing Modi as its leader has been dispensed with in 2024.

Someone invited by the president to form the government by taking oath as prime minister must go through the process of being elected the leader of their parliamentary party consisting of the newly elected Lok Sabha MPs of that party. This is a categorical imperative connected with the formation of a government, which is a vital component testifying to the might and majesty of our republic.

The president as head of our republic should have scrupulously adhered to the convention of inviting the leader elected by the concerned legislature party and informed the nation about the rationale behind her decision.

Never Too Late: Droupadi Murmu Must Decide What Kind of President She Wishes To Be

Precedent set by former President Venkataraman

In this respect, President Murmu should have followed the shining example of some of her distinguished predecessors, such as R Venkataraman and KR Narayanan, who issued press communiques detailing the robust reasoning behind their decisions to invite leaders of the parties that could not secure a majority in the Lok Sabha but whose legislature units/alliance partners elected them as leaders with assurances of their support to form a stable government.

Venkataraman wrote about this in his book My Presidential Years published in 1994 by Harper Collins.

The results of the 1989 general elections to the ninth Lok Sabha showed that the Congress, led by Rajiv Gandhi, with 400-plus seats in the eighth Lok Sabha, could secure only 194, far below the majority required to form the government, and became the single largest party.

In contrast, the Janata Dal and its allies in the National Front won 145 seats and the BJP 82, and the CPI(M) group got 55. Venkataraman wrote in his memoirs that the Congress parliamentary party in its meeting held in Delhi took a decision not to stake claim to form the government, and the leaders of BJP and Left parties announced that their respective parties would extend support from outside to the VP Singh government.

After due deliberations with several leaders of different political parties regarding the formation of a government, Venkataraman issued a press communique on December 1, 1989 informing the nation of his decision and the reasoning based on which he invited VP Singh to take oath as prime minister.

The relevant paragraph of that communique as quoted by Venkataraman in his book is self-explanatory:

"”Since the Congress (I), elected to the ninth Lok Sabha with the largest membership, has not opted to stake its claim for forming a government, I have invited Sri. V.P. Singh, leader of the second largest party/group, namely Janata Dal/ National Front, to form a government and take a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha within 30 days of assuming office.”

Venkataraman flagging Singh’s status as the leader of the second-largest party/group, namely the Janata Dal/National Front, and asking him to seek a vote of confidence within 30 days of assuming office is of crucial significance.

According to him, some people filed a writ petition in the Karnataka high court challenging the president’s decision asking Singh to take a vote of confidence within a stipulated period of 30 days on the grounds that there was no such provision in the constitution for specifying a time frame to prove a majority.

The high court dismissed the plea by stating that the time span prescribed by the president was in tune with well-known conventions.

Why did President Murmu not ask Modi to seek a vote of confidence?

President Murmu‘s decision to invite Modi to form a government raises several questions in light of the precedent set by Venkataraman. Did she ascertain Modi’s status as leader of BJP, the single largest party/the NDA?

The BJP did not get a majority on its own and only as part of the NDA did it cross the majority mark. Therefore, why did she not ask Modi to seek a vote of confidence within a stipulated time period as was done by Venkataraman in the case of V.P. Singh?

In the absence of any press communique issued by her, the people, as the repository of all power and authority in our democratic system, are kept in the dark about the rationale. reasoning and timing behind her decision to invite Modi to form a government.

Precedent set by former President KR Narayanan

When former President KR Narayanan invited Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP to form a government in 1998, he issued a press communique in March that year. Vajpayee’s party was the single-largest, and with the support of its NDA alliance partners, it could get a majority.

Narayanan, to assure and satisfy himself that a stable government would be formed, insisted that NDA allies should give him letters expressing their support to Vajpayee.

While mentioning all such points in his press communique, Narayanan said:

"When no party or pre-election alliance of parties is in a clear majority, the Head of State has in India or elsewhere, given the first opportunity to the leader of the party or combination of parties that has won largest number of seats subject to the Prime Ministers so appointed obtaining majority support on the floor of the house within a stipulated time. This procedure is not, however, all time formula because situations can arise where MPs not belonging to the single largest party or combination can, as a collective entity, out-number the single largest claimant. The President’s choice of Prime Minister is pivoted on the would be Prime Minister’s claim of commanding majority support."

It is clear that even Narayanan informed the people and the nation that the leader of a party or combination of parties could be invited for taking oath as prime minister and s/he should be asked to seek a vote of confidence within a stipulated period.

Clearly, the precedents and conventions set by Venkataraman and Narayanan have not been followed in letter and spirit by President Murmu when she invited Modi to form a government. She also did not ask him to seek a vote of confidence within a specified time limit, clearly aware of the fact that the BJP did not get a majority of Lok Sabha seats.

Such departures from the set convention by President Murmu do not augur well for our democracy and the constitutional scheme of forming a government.

S.N. Sahu served as officer on special duty to former President K.R. Narayanan.

This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.

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