Karnataka Elections: 3 major legal points debated in Supreme Court, next hearing on Friday

The Supreme Court today refused to stay BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa's swearing-in as Karnataka Chief Minister after a rare pre-dawn hearing which saw the Congress-JD (S) combine making a last-ditch attempt to stall the saffron party's surge in the southern state.

The apex court has made it clear that the swearing-in and the government formation in the state would be subject to the final outcome of the case before it. While taking up the petition the court debated the maintainability of the petition first.

Role of Governor

During the arguments, it was important to decide whether the government can be questioned or not. The court opined that Governor can't be questioned as a person, but his actions can be looked into. This paved the way for further arguments in the case.

Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi defended Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R. Vala's decision to administer the oath to BJP legislature party leader B.S. Yeddyurappa on Thursday morning at the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru.

"Governor has the discretion to call the largest party and he has done so. If single largest party won't be able to form a government, another party will be called. In case of Goa elections, single largest party Congress had not presented its side, that's the difference," said Rohatgi, who is appearing for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the hearing of the petition filed by Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) challenging the Governor's decision.

Staying the swearing-in-ceremony

Unless things were completely illegal at on the onset, apex court was highly unlikely to interfere in the swearing-in-ceremony, believe many legal experts. 

"This Court is not passing any order staying the oath-taking ceremony of BS Yeddyurappa. In case, he is given the oath in the meantime, that shall be subject to further orders of this court and final outcome of the writ petition," the bench said.

While senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Congress-JD (S) combine, persisted with his arguments that the swearing-in ceremony should be stayed or deferred, the bench said, "we are not staying the oath taking ceremony".

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing three BJP MLAs Govind M Karjol, C M Udasi, and Basavaraj Bommai, opposed the arguments to defer or stay the swearing-in ceremony.

15 day period to prove majority in Karnataka Assembly

Congress and JD(S) claim that 15-day period is very long which will invite horse-trading of MLAs and this period should be shortened. 
The apex court has directed the Centre to place before it two communications, sent by Yeddyurappa to Governor Vajubhai Vala in which he had staked claim to form the government, saying their perusal was necessary to decide the case.

The legal experts believe that based on the content of papers and other developments in the state, the Supreme Court could shorten the period given to Yeddyurappa to prove majority in Karnataka Assembly. 

The apex court, which commenced the hearing at 2.11 am and ended at 5.28 am. The next hearing of the case is scheduled on Friday.

(With inputs from agencies)