Election FAQs | In case of no majority, how is a state government formed?

With election results for the State Assembly Elections for five states set to be announced, let us take a look at how a state government is formed when no party has a clear majority.

To form a state government, elections to the State Legislative Assembly or the Vidhan Sabha are held. Each state is divided into constituencies, and parties have representatives from each constituency. A party or a coalition must have 50% + 1 seats to secure a majority and form a government in any state.

Also Read | Election FAQs: What is a hung assembly?

For instance, in Uttar Pradesh, there are 403 state legislative constituencies. The National Democratic Alliance, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the United Progressive Alliance, the Left Front among other parties have gone head to head in these constituencies to win State elections in Uttar Pradesh. In order for any particular party to secure a majority and win elections in the state, they would need to achieve the magic number of winning in 202 constituencies.

In a scenario where no party or pre-poll alliance has a clear majority, it is called a hung Assembly. In this case, no party can form a government without support from other parties or independent MLAs.

Also Read | Election FAQs: How a Chief Minister is elected

The party offering external support isn’t usually part of the government and the politicians don’t hold ministerial positions.

The Governor invites the leader of the single largest party to form the government and usually gives the leader and the party 10 days to show a majority. If the party is unable to show a majority in the prescribed time period, the Governor dissolves the Assembly and calls for re-election. In the meantime, a President’s Rule is imposed on the state.

The most recent example of this is in Maharashtra in 2019, where no clear majority was achieved and a President’s Rule had to be imposed on the state.

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