The Karnataka Governor's hasty invitation to the BJP to form Government despite the majority of MLAs forming a post-poll alliance of...

DMK working president M.K. Stalin issued a sharp constitutional critique on May 17, 2018, against Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala's decision to invite the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the state government. Stalin emphasized that the governor acted arbitrarily by ignoring a decisive post-poll coalition formed by the Indian National Congress, the Janata Dal (Secular), and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which together commanded a verifiable legislative majority of 117 members in the newly elected assembly.

Stalin observed that granting fifteen days to an entity lacking numbers was an open invitation to induce defections and facilitate unethical horse-trading. He argued that bypassing clear post-election alignments subverts established constitutional conventions articulated by the Supreme Court of India in the landmark S.R. Bommai judgment. Such partisan interventions by gubernatorial authorities gravely weaken public faith in representative electoral democracy and institutional neutrality.

Warning that subverting democratic outcomes imperils federal integrity, Stalin called upon progressive political parties and civil rights groups to challenge the arbitrary decision in appropriate legal forums. He stated that constitutional morality must supersede political expedience. Stalin affirmed that the DMK will persistently champion democratic propriety and resist executive high-handedness.