Jharkhand Rajbhawan adopts wait and watch, as no party stakes claim to form the Govt

The Jharkhand Raj Bhawan has adopted a wait and watch policy, as no political party or any alliance could stake its claim to form the government in the State even a day after the announcement of the Assembly results.

Jharkhand happens to be an exceptional case, a senior Raj Bhawan officer opined, mainly due to the fractured mandate. "Had it not been so, we would have been engaged in preparing for a grand function right now, instead of waiting for the proposal from any political party," he said.

The Rajbhawan is also waiting for the official intimation of the results from the State election office, which according to officials might reach any moment by the evening. "If we fail to have any claim in the next couple of days, then the Rajbhawan would initiate its move to form the government. This may include inviting the single largest party or the pre-poll coalition to given them the chance for the government formation," said the officer.

Brushing aside any technical constrains in inviting the single largest party to form the government, the officer said, there was no such convention or rule. "The only thing is that the Governor needs to be convinced at the logic of stability in the governance offered by the party or their alliance if they were given the chance to form the government," he said.

As the Congress-JVM (P) combine has emerged as the largest pre-poll coalition, it may be invited first and given the chance, provided it could show the pledges for support of at least 42 legislators in the house of 81.

In the worst case, if all attempts made by the Rajbhawan fail to deliver the good by way of forming a popular government, the Centre may be compelled to extend the tenure of President Rule for some more months.

Bihar's case stands an example, when the State election threw up a hung assembly in February 2005. As none of the political party could muster the support of the majority legislator in the Assembly, the Centre had to impose President Rule. Buta Singh was made the Governor of Bihar to discharge his duty as the head of the State.