Governor put the cart before horse: experts

leading lawyer Niteen Pradhan also said that the Governor was unfit for his post. “It amounts to use of the legal machinery in contempt of the will of the people,” he said.

Advocate Raju Moray, an expert in civil cases, felt that the action of Bhandari amounted to “putting the cart before the horse.” “He should have asked Kalyan Singh to prove his majorityon the floor of the house, and removed him after he lost the vote of confidence,” he remarked.

But Additional Solicitor General Rafique Dada disagreed with this perception. “Prima facie evidence shows that the Kalyan Singh Government had lost its majority in the House. From then on it is the discretion of the Governor whether or not to dismiss it,” he claimed. He feared that giving more time to Kalyan Singh would have led to horse-trading. “Law cannot be separate for different political parties,” he asserted.

Ambiguity surrounds the Article 164, which Bhandari reportedly used to dismiss the Uttar Pradesh Government. The general comment offered was that whether the Governor had reason enough to believe that Kalyan Singh was no longer the leader of the largest constituent of the Legislative Assembly, is debatable.