President’s rule may be inevitable in UP

NEW DELHI: With most of the opinion and exit polls predicting a hung assembly in Uttar Pradesh, political parties are now bracing themselves for a spell of President’s rule in the state. The main reason for this being only two days gap between the counting of votes on May 11 and the May 14 deadline for the constitution of the new assembly.

For the record, all the main players Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Kalyan Singh are making tall claims of getting a majority, but the inputs from the ground suggest that none of the parties will be in a position to form a government on their own.

According to the schedule for the UPA assembly elections, the polling for the seventh and last phase of elections ends on May 8. Counting in all the seats where elections took place will be held two days later on May 11 and the whole election process must be complete by May 13 so that the Governor can notify the results and begin the the process of the constitution of the state assembly. 

Most political observers believe that in the absence of a clear-cut majority for any party or group of parties, the two days available to form a government may prove too short a period to cobble up the numbers. “If it is a hung assembly, then in all probability the state will have to be put under

President’s rule till such time that the political formations are in a position to cobble up the numbers,” says a former retired advocate general of UP.