Modi broke protocol by calling NDA meet before EC’s letter to President: Expert

The hurried manner in which Narendra Modi called a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners at his residence on Wednesday (June 5), a day after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared, has raised eyebrows, with political experts pointing out that it was in violation of the standard operating procedure.

The NDA partners unanimously elected Modi as their leader, paving the way for him to take the oath for a third consecutive term, a first for any ruling alliance since 1962. Political commentator Javed Ansari called it “putting the cart before the horse”.

The procedure

Speaking to The Federal, Ansari said the process to be followed is laid down in the rulebook. Once all the counting is over, “the last vote is counted, and the last [winning candidate’s] certificate is given…the Chief Election Commissioner seeks an appointment for himself and two other election commissioners with the President and notifies that the process has now come to a conclusion. The President then dissolves the previous Lok Sabha,” he said.

Following that, the President invites the leader of the single largest party or alliance and asks them to show her the numbers. “If she is satisfied, even then, there is a procedure. The leader is given a date to prove his majority on the floor of the House,” Ansari added.

EC yet to meet President

Besides, whoever is expected to head the government first needs to be elected as the leader of his parent political party’s parliamentary party. Only once that is done can a meeting of the allies be called and the leader be elected by them to head the government, he explained.

The next step is for the leader to go to the President with the party’s and the allies’ letter of support and show the numbers (more than 272, the majority mark) again. Following that, the President invites the leader to form the government, Ansari pointed out. However, in this case, the NDA allies chose Modi to head the government even when the CEC was yet to meet the President and give her the letter.

He added that even the President on her own cannot invite anyone until the Election Commission submits the letter.

Why did Modi rush?

Calling the hurried way things were done by Modi and other BJP leaders “unseemly”, Ansari wondered whether Modi was worried he may face a challenge from the RSS or from certain quarters within the BJP.

He pointed out the growing animosity between the BJP and the RSS, with BJP chief JP Nadda saying in the middle of the election (on May 18) that the BJP now “runs itself” and no longer needs the RSS, which is only an “ideological front”.