President invites legal experts for consultations

Faced with the prospect of a hung Parliament and not much of a difference between the seats won by the UPA and NDA...

Faced with the prospect of a hung Parliament and not much of a difference between the seats won by the UPA and NDA,Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday invited two top legal luminaries for a discussion with President Pratibha Patil after the election results are out on Saturday.

Top government sources said that constitutional experts Soli Sorabjee and Ashok Desai have been invited for consultations with President Patil in the second half of the day. Fali S Narimans name is also under consideration but a final call is yet to be taken.

Notwithstanding the exit polls done by the TV channels,the Congress and BJPs internal assessments are quite revealing. Both the parties expect to garner about 160-plus seats in the 15th Lok Sabha. A top Congress strategist said that they had identified 146 seats that the party was sure to win with another 15 seats where the party will ultimately get through. The BJP figures are no different. An internal BJP survey predicts 160-plus seats though the seat figures in Orissa and Maharashtra appear inflated to some extent.

The governments own estimates,which were conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by National Security Advisor M K Narayanan,are quite revealing. They show the Congress as the single largest party with 163 seats while the BJP garners only 123. The UPA allies muster 45 seats while NDA allies win 41. The assessment says that 18 seats are too close to call while giving Mayawati,Communists and Samajwadi Party,32,30 and 23 seats respectively.

The Third Front,particularly the BSP,is expecting a total of 80 seats to get into political play on government formation. BSP supremo Mayawati will arrive in Delhi on May 17 and get into talks with the Left and TDP. The Lefts inclination will be clear after its politburo meeting on May 18 and intra-party consultations that are expected to last till May 21.

In fact,serious political negotiations will only begin after the cold numbers are available. For instance,the Congress has only discussed government formation with its allies in the UPA Government and has not sent any formal proposal to any other party barring preparing the grounds for future negotiations. Same is the case with the BJP.