This is unique and possibly the first time a female prime minister has lost her seat, but the party recorded a bigger victory than in previous general elections. West Bengal Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee received this award on May 2nd when the results of the West Bengal Assembly elections were announced.
Mamata Banerjee pushed the BJP’s Modi Shah juggernaut in West Bengal when their Trinamool Congress won 213 of 292 seats that went to the polls between March 27 and April 29. However, she lost the election from the constituency of Nandigram to Suvendu Adhikari from the BJP.
The results left a political moral dilemma on this question: Can Mamata Banerjee remain Prime Minister after losing Nandigram?
Constitutionally, the answer to this question is “yes”.
In India’s constitutional scheme, anyone can be appointed prime minister, minister, or even prime minister without being a legislator. But such a person should be elected by the people within six months of their appointment.
Article 164, paragraph 4 of the Constitution reads: “A minister who has not been a member of the state legislature for a period of six consecutive months ceases to be a minister after that period.”
WHEN THE LOSS OF THE CANDIDATE BECAME CM
A non-MLA has taken an oath as prime minister on several occasions. The most recent example is Uttarakhand’s Prime Minister Tirath Singh Rawat. Mamata Banerjee herself was not an MLA when she first took an oath as Prime Minister of West Bengal in 2011.
There have also been cases in the past where a prime minister’s candidate lost the election but the party won a majority. There have also been cases where a person was elected party leader and became prime minister after losing a general election.
In 1952 the country’s first parliamentary elections took place. It was then called the state of Bombay and combined Maharashtra and Gujarat. Morarji Desai, the leader of the Congress, who became Prime Minister of the Janata Party government in 1977, lost the general election. But he was too influential a leader to be expelled from the government. The Bombay Congress Legislative Party elected him leader and Morarji Desai was named prime minister.
In the same year, by the way, someone else became prime minister without going through the general election. C Rajagopalachari, the last Governor General of India – a post converted to President of India – did not deny fears that he would lose the parliamentary elections in what was then Madras State.
Rajagopalachari did not deny the by-poll, even after he became Prime Minister of Madras for the same reason. He didn’t even seek open elections for the Legislative Council. He was elected to the Legislative Council on the quota of the Chambers of Commerce of Madras.
In recent years, the BJP has won the 2017 Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, but its chief candidate, Prem Kumar Dhumal, lost the election. The BJP got a new face, Jairam Thakur as Prime Minister of Himachal Pradesh.
WHAT IF CM LOSES BYPOLL?
There have been cases where a prime minister lost the by-poll. In the 1970s, Uttar Pradesh’s Prime Minister Tribhuvan Narayan Singh lost the by-poll. He resigned immediately.
A delicate situation, however, emerged in 2009 when Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren – the father of current Prime Minister Hemant Soren – lost a by-poll but briefly toyed with the idea of holding onto power by reappointment to a new six-month lease to get for the choice. Under pressure from the Allies Congress, Soren resigned and the presidential reign was imposed in Jharkhand.
CAN A NON-MLA BE RESTORED AS A CM?
The idea of reappointment as minister or prime minister was rejected by the Supreme Court in a 2001 ruling. The matter related to the reappointment of Tej Prakash Singh – the son of former Punjab Prime Minister Beant Singh, who was murdered by terrorists – as Minister 1995-96 without being elected to the Assembly.
The case also drew attention to the case of J Jayalalithaa, former Prime Minister of Tamil Nadu. She had become prime minister despite being disqualified from the election.
The Supreme Court ruled that no person could be reappointed for two terms without becoming a member of the legislature – MLA or MLC, where the Legislative Council ruled.
Mamata Banerjee has six months to be elected as MLA if she continues to serve as Prime Minister. West Bengal does not have a legislative council. It was abolished in 1969.
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