The main point is that naturally he had to go by certain factual position before him. When he had decided not to go by the number of Independents, the only thing he could do was to go by the largest party returned.
It is not for the first time that this has happened. He has made a reference to a precedent, the precedent of Madras where Shri Rajagopalachari was invited to form the Government.
An hon. Member : Do they remember that?
.... This is the position he took. One may agree with it or one may not. I can see that some members here may possibly take a different view. If some of them were Governors, possibly they might have taken a different view. That is quite possible. But the question is : are we going to accept the judgement of the Governor in this case or not? That is the main question before us. Only because it is not acceptable to you, you are not going to accept it. It is here that democracy comes in danger. See the constitutional position. This is the delicate fulcrum on which parliamentary democracy functions. Here is a person functioning as Head of a State in the process of the birth of a new government. He has to make a certain judgement. It is quite possible that the judgement may be incorrect.
Shri Surendranath Dwivedy : It was a perverse judgement.
Shri Y. B. Chavan : That is perverse remark, if I can use that word.
Shri Surendranath Dwivedy : You will know how it is perverse.
Shri Y. B. Chavan : I am conceding that possibly it may be an incorrect judgement. But the Constitution itself has provided the corrective.
If the wrong person was called upon to form the Government the very next day he has to face the legislature. Only because the Governor had called somebody and only because he has become the Chief Minister and only because he has formed a Council of Ministers, he does not continue to be Chief Minister. He has to face the House and he has to prove that he commands the majority.
Therefore, it is incumbent on the Governor, while making a selection of the person on whom he is going to call to become the Chief Minister, to see that he is likely to command the majority of the House. It was on that basis that he asked the leader of the largest party in the legislature to form the Government. The whole trouble started on this thing, when the Governor took this, according to me an objective, decision.
