Puducherry: President’s rule or will largest alliance form the government

Puducherry, Feb 22: V Narayanswamy resigned as Chief Minister of Puducherry after losing the trust vote today.

When the motion was put for voting, Narayanswamy and his MLAs walked out. The Congress and DMK were left with 12 legislators including an independent in the House which has an effective strength of 26. The opposition alliance has 14 MLAs.

The question now is whether the Opposition with 14 MLAs stake a claim to form the government in Puducherry. This is a possibility, but the fact is that the Union Territory will be going to polls before May.

The experts points out that given such a scenario, it would not be wise for any party to stake a claim to form the government.

The ball is now in the court of the Lieutenant Governor. The LG could either invite the largest alliance to form the government or recommend dissolution of the House and recommend President's rule.

The possibility of the UT being under President's rule is greater since elections are round the corner. All parties would be in favour of testing their chances out with the electorate instead of trying to form a government, when the elections are due in two months time.

The Election Commission of India is likely to announce the dates of the elections by the end of this month. Once the dates are announced, the model code of conduct comes into force. The parties would rather spend time campaigning instead of trying to form the government.