It is not quite clear whether or not the Karnataka chief minister, Mr. Hegde, is in fact planning a midterm poll to the state legislature to make it coincide with the forthcoming election to the Lok Sabha. He has denied the report that he is thinking in these terms. But such denials never settle the issue. After all, the chief minister cannot be expected to disclose his hand in advance. And even if he has taken a decision, he can change his mind, depending on his calculation of the likely result. But whatever his decision, there is a pretty good case for an early poll to the Karnataka state legislature. Mr. Hegde heads a minority government. This would not have mattered much if the three parties supporting him – the Bharatiya Janata Party, CPI and CPM – were compatible with one another and formed a coherent alliance. But they do not. The two communist parties would have nothing to do with the BJP which with 18 legislators is the largest of the three, the CPI and CPM accounting for only three members each. The BJP, on its part, has been unhappy with the treatment the Janata leadership in the state has meted out to it. On top of it all, for months there has been talk of the Congress trying to arrange defections and bring down the government. Indeed three weeks ago, Mr. Hegde secured the resignations of all ministers precisely in order to avoid such a possibility and even before he reshuffled the ministry, two of his ministers quit the Janata. This does not mean that the ministry is about to lose its majority in the legislature but it does mean that it feels insecure. That cannot be conducive to good and effective governance.
Karnataka has in popular parlance come to be bracketed with Andhra since the election in the two states last year. But while the outcome in Andhra was conclusive in favour of Telugu Desam in terms of both votes and seats, it was not in Karnataka. While the Congress party lost power in the state, it won more votes than the Janata-led alliance and the alliance did not secure a majority of seats either. This inconclusive nature of the poll result has bedevilled political life in the state ever since. It is, of course, by no means certain that a mid-term poll will help to end this state of affairs. But it might. Karnataka apart, a number of other states are due to go to the polls by next June. There is a case for advancing the date to make it coincide with the election to the Lok Sabha. For one thing, it will, as the Election Commission has argued, help avoid a duplication of the effort and expenditure. For another, in some of these states, Maharashtra and Bihar for example, the ruling Congress party is too badly divided to be able to provide effective government. Again, there can be no guarantee that another election will produce a healthier political arrangement. But it might. The possibility deserves to be tested in these states as in Karnataka.