New Delhi: On February 9, hours after Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh stepped down on the advice of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s top leadership, governor Ajay Bhalla revoked his January 24 order calling for the state assembly’s winter session to begin from February 10.
Bhalla declaring his earlier order “null and void” ensures that the opposition Congress and a large swathe of BJP MLAs opposed to Biren Singh are not able to go ahead with a floor test. If that had been allowed, it may have caused the fall of the BJP government in the northeastern state, thereby clearing the path for President’s Rule and fresh elections.
Both options are unfriendly to the BJP. Clamping President’s Rule on a state governed by its own party would ensure that the Narendra Modi government and the BJP face unrelenting criticism on mis-governance by the opposition. The BJP also cannot afford to hold an assembly election in Manipur at the moment as its popularity has dipped quite a lot, much lower than that of the opposition Congress. Proof of this was seen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections where BJP and its ally, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), could not hold on to the state’s two parliamentary seats, which went to the Congress instead. This also indicated that people on both sides of the ethnic divide in the state had spoken through the ballot against the BJP.
Biren Singh, meanwhile, had remained in power throughout the 21-month-old ethnic conflict in the border state that has brought the relations between the two communities, Meitei and Kuki, to a new low. The media’s attention is now, naturally, on Biren’s resignation, which came on February 9, and on who would now succeed him. Governor Bhalla’s order to revoke his own earlier order has largely evaded attention.
Also read: In Manipur, a Pawn Is Sacrificed to Save the King
Did Bhalla, who was the Modi government’s trusted Union home secretary till August 2024, violate the constitution with his order on February 9? Did he act in the interest of the ruling BJP? Or were his actions constitutional?
The question is significant because a governor is the state’s constitutional head and therefore, his decision is directly linked to upholding the supremacy of the sacrosanct rulebook that runs the nation.
What does Governor’s revoke order say?
Here’s what Clause (1) of Article 174 of the constitution – which Governor Bhalla made use of in his February 9 order to declare the upcoming assembly session “null and void” – says.
“The Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the Legislature of the State to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.”
At first look, it appears that Bhalla seemed to have made use of only the first part of the Clause and ignored the crucial second part. In Manipur, both in political circles and on the streets, the question on everyone’s mind is, what about the constitutional necessity of holding an assembly session within six months from the last session?
The sixth session of the 12th Manipur assembly was summoned by the then governor Anasuya Uikey between July 31, 2024 and August 12, 2024. This would mean that the seventh session should be held by tomorrow (February 12, 2025). Since there is no sign of the seventh session starting tomorrow, is the state then not in a constitutional crisis?
Speaking to Sangai Express, noted Manipuri politician and former minister Okram Joy Singh expressed concern along these lines. He said, “Either the assembly must be summoned with a new chief minister, or the assembly must be put under suspended animation before February 12 noon to prevent Manipur from coming under President’s Rule (PR).”
Joy said, “To avoid PR or suspended animation in Manipur, the ruling MLAs must take swift action and stake claim to form a new government with a new chief minister and summon the house before February noon.”
State Congress president Meghachandra spoke on similar lines to The Wire from Imphal. “As per Article 174 of the constitution, there is no room for ‘null and void’ as mentioned by the governor in his revoke order. It is a blatant violation of the constitution and shows disregard towards it. If no assembly session is held by tomorrow, then automatically, the state is being pushed towards suspended animation of the assembly and President’s Rule – which I think is the intention of the BJP,” Meghachandra said.
“But we in the Congress don’t prefer President’s Rule. We want a popular government in place which can bring long overdue peace to Manipur,” he added.
Is the Manipur governor violating the constitution?
To clear the air, The Wire reached out to noted constitutional expert P.D.T. Achary. This is what the former secretary general of the Lok Sabha has to say:
“Yes, it is a constitutional provision that the gap between two sessions, be it in parliament or in the state legislatures, should not exceed six months. But the problem here is, the current chief minister N. Biren Singh has resigned which was accepted by the governor. This acceptance means there is no government in place at the moment. The chief minister’s resignation also means the cabinet is no more in existence. Since the governor summons a session on the advice of the chief minister and his cabinet as per the Constitution, and that there is no chief minister and therefore no cabinet in place in Manipur at the moment, the six-month deadline becomes automatically inoperative. Remember, the governor can’t act without the aid and advice of the cabinet.”
Achary, who was also the ex-officio administrative head of the Secretariat of the Lok Sabha, further expounded:
“In the eyes of the Constitution, with Biren Singh’s resignation, there is no government in Manipur. As per the Constitution, the governor can’t accept a chief minister’s resignation conditionally. He can only accept it. However, the governor has also asked Singh to continue as caretaker, only because he is following a constitutional convention that has been practiced over time. This is a tricky area in the Constitution and therefore, a governor typically follows the constitutional convention.”
On asked how long a caretaker government under a governor can be allowed to run a state, Achary was categorical:
“When a chief minister resigns and therefore the government falls, the governor has two options in front of him. One is, governor has to explore within 2-3 days if an alternative popular government be put in place and summon an assembly session where a floor test is taken within one or two weeks and the matter is over. The second option is, if governor can’t find anyone to form a popular government, or if that alternative government also fails the floor test in the House, the governor must then inform the President at once to take over the reins; essentially call for President’s Rule. There can’t be a vacuum in any state.”
So far, Achary underlined, the governor has been keeping to constitutional norms in revoking the order calling for the assembly session from February 10.
“The problem in Manipur, however, is, it is already the second day without a government and no one seems to know what is happening there,” Achary added.
Also read: The Ill-Conceived Office of Governor Is a Threat to India’s Democracy
Violation of constitutional norms related to assembly sessions
Congress leader Meghachandra, meanwhile, also highlighted another significant constitutional convention which is typically followed.
“This February 10 session was being held in 2025 by violating the constitutional practice of summoning three sessions in a calendar year. The same practice is followed in parliament too. But in Manipur, only two sessions were held in 2024. It also means there were not enough sittings of the House. Essentially, the space given to the opposition by the constitution has been curtailed by the ruling party. This is an alarming situation.”
The decreasing number of sittings of the House is a trend across several states lately. As per a study released in 2024 by PRS Legislative Research, state assemblies met for an average of only 22 days in the entire year of 2023. Most of these sittings were from the budget session. The study pointed out that in 2023, 44% of the bills were passed in assemblies within a day of introduction, without leaving any room for discussion. Gujarat, Jharkhand, Puducherry and Punjab assemblies passed all bills either on the day they were introduced, or the very next day.
The study highlighted yet another constitutional convention increasingly being violated across various states – holding a session well over six months; some stretching to even a year, without being prorogued.
Achary remarked, “This is another wrong practice; it started in parliament during the Congress rule and some other parties in power have now taken it to another level.”
The PRS study also pointed out that in 2023, the Punjab government under Aam Aadmi Party had to knock at the Supreme Court’s door as the governor appointed by the Modi government would not call the budget session even though the governor has to act only in aid and advice of the state cabinet. In other words, this is a blatant violation by a governor who is supposed to uphold the constitution in a state. In recent times, there has been a face-off between the state cabinets and governors in opposition-ruled states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, including in holding Bills passed by the House.
On being asked about such blatant violations of constitutional norms and conventions by governors lately, constitutional expert and retired Supreme Court judge Justice Madan S Lokur told this correspondent, “Our Constitution doesn’t provide for violation of norms laid down. The reason is that the Constituent Assembly never imagined that such a situation would arise.”
“But now, we are witness to flagrant violation of constitutional norms. For example, governors not assenting to Bills passed by the state legislatures for months and years; Speakers not taking a decision under the anti-defection law, and so on. Not adhering to or violating the less than six months rule between assembly sessions is taking disregard of constitutional norms to another level. We are witnessing unimaginable changes in our Constitution, slowly but surely, and seemingly, we cannot do anything about it,” Lokur said.
