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Centre to inform Supreme Court on government formation in Delhi after Diwali

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The Centre's stand on government formation in Delhi will only be known after Diwali as the Supreme Court was on Friday informed that Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's proposal to the President seeking his response on inviting single-largest party BJP was still under consideration. 

"The Lt Governor has submitted a report to the President (Pranab Mukherjee). It is under consideration. I will inform you about the decision after Diwali (October rpt October 23)," Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar submitted before a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu. The Solicitor General's request for adjourning the matter on the ground that Additional Solicitor General (ASG) P S Narsimha, who was to argue the matter was not available due to personal reasons, was accepted by the bench which fixed the next hearing on October 28.

The Aam Aadmi Party did not oppose the Centre's plea before the bench, also comprising Justices J Chelameswar, AK Sikri, RK Agrawal and Arun Mishra. It was the ASG, who on September 9 hearing, had referred to the letter written by the Lt Governor on September 4 to the President seeking his response on inviting single-largest party BJP for forming the government in Delhi.

The court had asked the Centre to apprise it on the outcome of the process undertaken by Lt Governor on government formation in Delhi, saying "alleged horse-trading" will continue if a decision is not taken. Senior advocate FS Nariman has been appearing for AAP while BJP was represented by senior lawyer Aman Sinha.

The court had earlier said the matter cannot be kept pending and it may take a view after the Centre informs it about the decision of the President and subsequent political developments. The court was hearing a plea filed by AAP seeking dissolution of the Assembly and had earlier asked the Centre what steps it has taken to explore the possibility of government formation during the last five months.

In his letter to the President, the LG referred to the resignation of the AAP government on February 14 saying that it was not in "the interest of public to hold elections in such a short time after the elections of December 2013".

"In accordance with the constitutional convention and also keeping in mind the law laid down by the Supreme Court that every effort must be made to form a popular government before recommending dissolution, I shall be grateful if the Hon'ble President of India grants approval to invite BJP, that is even today the single largest party in the legislature to seek their interest in forming the government (MLA strength of all parties as well as independents is attached).

"Should the BJP agree, I would ask them to demonstrate their strength to form a stable government on the floor of the house within a stipulated time frame, possibly one week. Future course of action can be determined after taking into the account the response of the BJP," the letter had said.

BJP had emerged the single largest party after the Assembly polls in December last year with 32 seats including ally Akali Dal's one MLA in the 70-member House. BJP fell four seats short of a simple majority and had refused to form the government, saying it did not have the numbers and will not resort to any "unfair means" to take the reins.

AAP with 28 MLAs had later formed the government with the support of eight Congress MLAs. AAP's strength has also come down to 27 after expulsion of party MLA Vinod Kumar Binny. BJP's number came down to 28 in the House in May after three of its legislators--Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma--were elected to Lok Sabha. With the resignation of three MLAs, the strength of the Assembly is 67.

On August 5, the apex court had given five weeks' time to the Centre to take a decision on dissolution of the Delhi Assembly "one way or another", questioning it for continuing to keep the House in suspended animation when no party was coming forward to form the government. 

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