India, May 9 -- In the 1996 mid-term assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 174 seats, emerging as the single largest party in a 424-member house in undivided Uttar Pradesh. The BJP failed to muster support from any political party in a hung house.

Chief ministerial candidate Kalyan Singh staked his claim to form the government. The BJP, quoting the SR Bommai vs Union Govt (1994) judgment and other precedents, argued that the floor test was mandatory to prove a majority and could not be decided by the governor at Raj Bhavan.

Significantly, political parties believe that an invitation from the Raj Bhavan/Rashtrapati Bhavan would secure them the requisite numbers in a hung house. After all, at the end of the cat and mouse ga...