Coming out strongly against the Supreme Court order giving Manohar Parrikar an opportunity to win the Goa trust vote on Thursday, eminent jurist Fali S Nariman Tuesday said that the Constitution as well as judicial precedents laid down that the Governor was obligated to call the leader of the single largest party first to form the government.

“My understanding of the law and the precedents (benches of nine and five judges respectively) is that the Governor of a state is under constitutional duty to first invite the leader of the single largest party to form the government,” Nariman told The Indian Express.

In Goa, the Congress emerged as the single largest party, winning 17 of the 40 seats in the Assembly. The BJP, on the other hand, won only 13 seats but staked claim to form the government with the support of eight other legislators.

After Parrikar submitted a list of 21 MLAs in his support, Governor Mridula Sinha issued a press release last Saturday, appointing Parrikar as the new Chief Minister and asked him to prove his majority in 15 days.

Chandrakant Kavlekar, Leader of the Congress Legislature Party, complained that he was not called even once by the Governor to form the government or to be consulted on formation of a new government despite his being the single largest party in the state.

On being asked what could be the fault with the Governor’s decision when the BJP staked claim before the Congress did, Nariman said the constitutional principle was not about who rushed first.

“The Governor, according to me, is under a constitutional duty to first invite the leader of the single largest party in the state, whether or not he or she is the first to stake claim.” Nariman also wondered why the Supreme Court order on Tuesday completely missed this point.

In his blog, Finance Minister Jaitley has said that “in a hung Assembly, there will be post-poll alliances”. He also said that “in the face of claim of 21 MLAs led by Manohar Parrikar, Goa Governor couldn’t have invited minority of 17 Congress MLAs to form government”.

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