Karnataka: Governer is obliged to call the largest party first, says Mukul Rohatgi

The BJP ended up eight seats short of the majority mark which gave the Congress and the JD (S) to cobble up an alliance and stake a claim to form the government.

With both the BJP and Congress-JD (S) combine staking a claim to form the government in Karnataka, former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi on Wednesday said that the Governor Vajubhai Vala is "obliged to call largest party" first.

Both sides have met the Governor and staked their claims, and now the ball is in Vajubhai Vala's court. There are two options that the Governor has. He can either accept the Congress-JD (S)' claim of having the needed support and ask them to prove it on the floor of the House, or he can say that the single largest party should be given the first chance to prove majority in the assembly. There is no rule that binds the Governor to select a particular course of action. It is totally the Governor's discreation as to what decision he takes.

"Governer is obliged to call the largest party, which is BJP. He should call BJP leader asking him if he can form the government. If he says he cannot, then the Governor will call the 2nd party and if he says he can form government, then Governor should give him time to prove majority," Rohatgi told news agency ANI.

The result of the Karnataka assembly elections 2018 was announced yesterday and the BJP emerged as the single largest party by bagging 104 seats in a 224 seat assembly (polling was held in 222 seats on May 12). The BJP ended up eight seats short of the majority mark which gave the Congress and the JD (S) to cobble up an alliance and stake a claim to form the government. Congress-JD (S) combine has 118 seats, which is well above the halfway mark needed to form the government.