The Hindu : 13th Lok Sabha dissolved

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 07, 2004

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13th Lok Sabha dissolved

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, FEB. 6. The President, A.P.J. Kalam, today dissolved the 13th Lok Sabha on the advice of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, setting the stage for the next parliamentary elections.

However, there is considerable confusion whether the Prime Minister needs to resign and render himself a "caretaker prime minister" subsequent to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. But the legal advice available to the Prime Minister is that there is no "constitutional requirement" for him to resign.

A Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué, issued this morning, said that Mr. Vajpayee had called on the President on January 27, 2004 and conveyed to him the advice of the Union Cabinet that the Lok Sabha be dissolved on February 6.

Mr. Vajpayee met the President again on Thursday (February 5) and informed him that the votes-on-account (railways and general) 2004-2005 and the Finance Bill, 2004, had been passed.

The communiqué went on: "As necessary financial and other business have since been transacted by Parliament, the President has now accepted the recommendation and, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sub-clause (b) of clause (2) of Article 85 of the Constitution of India, has signed an Order today dissolving the 13th Lok Sabha with immediate effect."

It is believed that when Mr. Vajpayee met the President on February 5 it was gently put to the Prime Minister whether there should be a resignation.

Mr. Vajpayee is understood to have told the President that there was no need but he would get the constitutional requirement examined.

Today, the Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, is said to have given a half-page opinion, arguing that there was no need for a prime minister to resign (and become a caretaker prime minister) after recommending dissolution of the Lok Sabha while still enjoying a majority in the House. (Incidentally, Mr. Sorabjee had met the President on February 4).

The records, according to officials, show that neither in 1971 nor 1977, Indira Gandhi had resigned while recommending the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. On both occasions, she was enjoying a majority in the Lok Sabha.

In support of the "there-is-no-need-to-resign" argument, a 1971 Supreme Court judgment is cited wherein the court dealt with a similar contention and ruled in favour of the then Prime Minister. Prime Ministerial aides are of the view that the matter is closed.

Today's dissolution of the Lok Sabha is the sixth time the President has invoked Article 85. There were early dissolutions in the past on December 27, 1970 (Fourth Lok Sabha), August 22, 1979 (Sixth Lok Sabha), March 13, 1991 (Ninth Lok Sabha); December 4, 1997 (Eleventh Lok Sabha), and April 26, 1999 (Twelfth Lok Sabha).

Then, there is the special case of "early dissolution" of the Fifth Lok Sabha whose life was extended during the Emergency for one year but the then Prime Minister; Indira Gandhi, sought dissolution before the year was over.

The dissolutions in 1979, 1991, 1997 and 1999 became necessary because the Government of the day had lost its majority and no alternative government could take its place.

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