DNA

• The previous assembly’s tenure was to end at midnight on Dec 26

Ahmedabad, Dec 26 (mb): When Narendra Modi took the oath as chief minister for the third time running on Tuesday, party veterans hailed it as a birthday gift to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Vajpayee turned 84 on Tuesday, but did not make it to Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Stadium for Modi’s coronation due to ill-health.

But behind the “birthday gift” is a story driven by constitutional necessity. When victory was certain, the party had at first booked the stadium for December 27 for a public swearing in. Modi had even told supporters in his home constituency of Maninagar that they would have to play the role of yajman (hosts), not mehman (guests), on the coming Thursday.

So why did the big day get shifted forward to Tuesday, December 25? The change was made to avoid president’s rule for an interim few hours. The issue surfaced after the BJP Parliamentary Board met at 8 pm in Delhi on Sunday to “assess” the poll results and formally anoint Modi as chief minister-designate.

It was discovered that the life of the old assembly ended on December 26 midnight, and there would be no chief minister or government in place to recommend the convening of the new assembly at that point in time. Modi would have been sworn in only later the next day.

This constitutional nicety, verified by former law minister and party general secretary Arun Jaitley, led to frantic phone calls to Gandhinagar to apprise Modi about the need to change dates. But Modi was on the move, doing the rounds, thanking people for their support.

After several attempts, it was left to BJP state president Purshottam Rupala to make the final connect with Modi. The date was revised to December 25 by around 9.30 pm, and Vajpayee’s birthday was mentioned as one additional reason for the selection of this date.

Why not December 26? Apparently, that date wasn’t very auspicious, and there was also the problem of leaving no margin for error. What if something went wrong, and the swearing got postponed for some reason? Would it trigger president’s rule? The party decided to take no chances. 

Under the constitution, the assembly has to be convened through an official notification before the term of the previous one ended on December 26 midnight. Only a newly elected government can recommend the convening of the new assembly. This would not have been possible if Narendra Modi had not assumed office before the midnight of December 26. Willy-nilly, president’s rule would have had to be imposed for technical reasons. It was not something the BJP was willing to countenance on a day of rejoicing for the party.