What happens if a Chief Minister refuses to relinquish office after electoral defeat?

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee addresses a press conference following the West Bengal Assembly elections result, at her residence, in Kolkata. | Photo Credit: PTI A day after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) lost the West Bengal elections to the BJP, party chairperson Mamata Banerjee on May 5 said she would not resign as Chief Minister, alleging that the verdict was the result of a “conspiracy” rather than the people’s mandate. Addressing a press conference, Ms. Banerjee claimed the elections had not been conducted fairly and accused the BJP of misusing central forces to “forcibly capture” booths and influence the outcome. She added that the party would challenge the results and continue its political fight. ALSO WATCH Watch: Mamata Banerjee refuses to back down after poll defeat Article 164(1) of the Constitution provides that “the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, and the Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor.” On a literal reading of the provision, therefore, the Governor appears to possess the authority to remove a Chief Minister from office. However, members of the Constituent Assembly had cautioned that such a provision could potentially lend itself to an arbitrary exercise of gubernatorial discretion. Constituent Assembly member Mohammad Ismail Khan had moved an amendment to the provision (then Article 144 of the Draft Constitution) proposing that the phrase “during the pleasure” be replaced with the words “so long as they enjoy the confidence of the Legislative Assembly of the State.” He contended that once the constitutional scheme envisaged the Governor as a nominee of the President, the Constitution ought to have made it explicit that the Council of Ministers would hold office not at the Governor’s pleasure, but only so long as it continued to enjoy the confidence of the Legislative Assembly. Addressing this concern, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, affirmed that the Council of Ministers shall hold office only so long as it enjoys the confidence of the majority. “The reason why we have not so expressly stated it,” he explained, “is because it has not been stated in that fashion or in those terms in any of the Constitutions which lay down a parliamentary system of government.” Over the years, the Supreme Court has also interpreted the Governor’s powers as flowing primarily from the “aid and advice” of the Council of Ministers. In A.G. Perarivalan v. State Through Superintendent of Police (2022), the apex court observed that the “Governor” is “but a shorthand expression for the State government”. While recognising the Governor as “the formal head and sole repository of the executive power”, the court held that the office is ordinarily bound by the aid and advice of the State’s Council of Ministers. ALSO WATCH Explained: Rise of BJP in West Bengal If a Governor asks a Chief Minister to step down and invites another candidate for the post, while the tenure of the Legislative Assembly is still on, there has to be a floor test — a constitutional mechanism used to determine whether the executive enjoys the confidence of the legislature. Under this process, the Chief Minister must prove majority support in the House, that is, the backing of more than half of the sitting MLAs. Failure to do so requires the Chief Minister to resign. If no party or coalition is able to form a stable government, President’s Rule under Article 356 may be imposed as a measure of last resort. Article 172 of the Constitution deals with the duration of a State Legislative Assembly and stipulates that, “unless sooner dissolved”, an Assembly “shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer, and the expiration of the said period of five years shall operate as a dissolution of the Assembly.” According to the Election Commission, the current West Bengal Assembly commenced its term on May 8, 2021, and is set to expire on May 7. Thereafter, the Governor will have to i

What happens if a Chief Minister refuses to relinquish office after electoral defeat?

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What happens if a Chief Minister refuses to relinquish office after electoral defeat?

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