Podcast | What Happens When No Party Gets a Majority in Lok Sabha?

In the event of a hung parliament, the president has a number of options before him.

What happens when no party has the numbers in Lok Sabha?

(Photo: The Quint)

In Lok Sabha, a party or a pre-poll coalition needs 272 seats to form a government. But what happens when either of them are not able to win the required number of seats and thereby fall short of a majority in the house? In this episode of Sadda Haq, The Quint explains the process that follows a hung parliament.

When it becomes clear that no single party or a pre-poll coalition has the numbers to form a government, the President of India steps in with the following options.

• He or she can invite the leader of the largest pre-poll coalition and ask him/her to form a government.
• He or she can invite the leader of the largest single-party and ask him/her to form a government.
• He or she can invite the leader of the largest post-poll coalition and ask him/her to form the government.
• If the president feels that the leader of the largest-single party won’t be able to secure the numbers required to from a majority, her/she can invite other parties who he feels can form a stable majority government.

In exercising all these options, the president usually makes a decision based on who he thinks has the capacity to show the numbers to form a stable government.

However, if the president exhausts all his options, then he/she can impose President’s rule and place the house under suspended animation. A president’s rule can last up to six months, during which parties and coalitions get another chance to form a stable government.

If six months pass and no one is able to form the government, then the president has to dissolve the Lok Sabha and order fresh elections.