As Tamil Nadu’s post-election deadlock dragged on for days, a senior constitutional scholar said the Governor’s prolonged silence risked horse-trading and undermined the people’s mandate
By TRH Political Desk
New Delhi, May 9, 2026 — As the political drama over government formation in Tamil Nadu gripped the country, constitutional expert R. Narayanan gave a sharp, unambiguous verdict in an exclusive interview: Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar had no constitutional justification to delay inviting Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay to form the government.
“By default, the Governor should invite Vijay. DMK has already said it is not interested in forming the government. AIADMK has not staked any claim. When both principal stakeholders have stepped aside, who else is there?” Narayanan told The Raisina Hills.
The 118-Seat Question
At the heart of the controversy was whether Vijay needed to demonstrate 118 MLAs — a simple majority in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly — before being invited to take oath as Chief Minister.
Narayanan was unequivocal that this requirement has no constitutional basis at the invitation stage. “The majority has not been defined anywhere in the Constitution. Out of 393 articles, nowhere. Article 366 defines High Courts, scheduled tribes, even schedules — but not majority,” he said. “The default provision is Article 100, which says all transactions in Parliament, equally applicable to the Assembly, shall be decided by the majority of members present and voting. That is all.”
He pointed to the precedent of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, who ran a minority government for a full five-year term. “He managed it for five years. No confidence motion, confidence motion, policy cut motion — these are the only ways to defeat a government. An ordinary bill failing does not warrant the dismissal of a sitting government. The Supreme Court has categorically said so,” Narayanan explained.
Floor Test: A Different Standard
The expert also clarified the distinction between the threshold for being invited to form a government and surviving a floor test. “The floor test is about members present and voting — not an absolute majority of the full House. If 100 members vote for Vijay and others abstain, he survives. It is beyond imagination that DMK will actively vote against Vijay on the first sitting. At most, they will abstain.”
He added that the Governor’s personal satisfaction regarding stability — while constitutionally legitimate — cannot be used as an indefinite excuse. “It is like the PMLA bail provision where a judge must satisfy two conditions before granting bail. No judge easily agrees. The Governor is in a similar position. But that discretion cannot be exercised to indefinitely deny an invitation to the single-largest party whose rivals have explicitly refused to stake a claim.”
Delay Breeds Horse-Trading
Narayanan was direct about the consequences of the Governor’s silence. “If you keep quiet, frustrated MLAs will think — why not join some other party? The probability of horse-trading becomes very high. This delay is a premium on political defection,” he warned.
He also took aim at the broader principle at stake. “Constitutional morality is more important than any one government. Governments come and go, but constitutionalism must be maintained. The central government should advise the Governor accordingly.”
The Governor’s Office: Still Necessary?
When asked about the growing public debate over the relevance and cost of Raj Bhavans — estimated at over ₹900 crores annually — Narayanan defended the institution while acknowledging its misuse. “India became a unified nation overnight in 1947, with 552 native states. We are only 75 years into democracy. The office of the Governor is necessary as a stabilising, watchful presence. But the responsibility that comes with the office must be exercised with constitutional morality, not political pressure from Delhi.”
His Advice to Vijay
Narayanan reserved some pointed counsel for the actor-turned-politician himself. “He has shown one very good quality — he has not spoken unnecessarily. In his place, someone else would have spilled his own case. My advice: stay quiet, do not attack anyone, meet the people. There is no power more powerful than the people’s power in a democracy. Who thought, two years after founding a party, Vijay would be standing for Chief Minister? That itself is the answer.”
Political observers described the verdict as a historic break from Tamil Nadu’s entrenched two-party structure, with TVK’s rise effectively dismantling the decades-old DMK-AIADMK duopoly that shaped the state’s politics for over 30 years.
As Narayanan put it in closing: “People are the most important factor in a democracy. All are watching. People are the best price of vigilance. The Governor should not forget that.”
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