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Plea in Supreme Court seeks Governor to invite TVK’s Vijay to form new government
‘Governor’s role to invite leader of largest party, not ask proof of majority’: Petition
The petition urged the court to invite Vijay to form the government and be sworn-in as the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu. (File Photo)
A member of Vijay’s TVK party Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Tamil Nadu Governor to invite Vijay to form the next government after the recent elections in the state.
Seeking urgent hearing of the plea, petitioner Ezhilrasi P, an advocate and “active member” of TVK said that “as per the settled legal position by” the SC, “firstly the…Governor is duty bound to invite the leader of largest single party to form the government and later prove the majority in the floor.”
The plea, filed through Advocate A Lakshminarayanan, said that “since…Vijay (is) the elected leader of the largest single party, from the media it is understood that the…Governor may be inviting post-poll coalition parties in Tamil Nadu to form the government.”
This, the petitioner said “would amount to” violation of “legal principles settled by” the SC and sound “death knell to…democracy on the whole”.
The plea added, “The same would also be against the mandate of the majority of citizens who exercised their vote.”
Submitting that the “Apex court alone is the savior of democracy”, the petitioner sought an interim injunction restraining the Governor from inviting anyone other than Vijay to form the government. Stating that Vijay has already staked the claim to form the new government as a leader of the single largest party, the TVK, the petitioner said, “The Governor must follow the Sarkaria Commission order of preference.”
It added, “Since no pre-poll alliance has a majority, the natural first call is to TVK…especially since it has already filed a formal claim with Congress’s letter of support. The Governor’s role is to invite and not to demand a full proof of majority before issuing the invitation.”
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The plea said that “requiring TVK to first produce letters from 118 MLAs before issuing an invitation would invert the constitutional sequence established in” the 2017 decision in Chandrakant Kavlekar v Union of India. The plea stated that the correct sequence is: first invite the leader, then swear in the new government, and then immediately conduct a floor test in the Assembly.
The petitioner contended that “any claim to govern must be proved on the floor of the Assembly, as soon as possible, in an open and transparent vote”.
The plea said, “The Governor’s discretion in inviting a party to form the government is valid, but it is not absolute. The Sarkaria Commission’s order of preference guides that discretion.”
It said the Governor not inviting Vijay to form government is in violation of Article 12 of the Constitution.
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It added that “the people of Tamil Nadu gave a mandate in favour of” the TVK, and if the Governor fails to invite Vijay, “it is contrary to the interest of the public and violation of their fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India”.
The petition urged the court to invite Vijay to form the government and be sworn-in as the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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