Shivraj Singh Chouhan bowed to our pressure but his acts can still be challenged: Vivek Tankha

New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has violated the Constitution by forming a council of ministers that is short of the required minimum strength, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha has said, adding that he is contemplating legal action against the move.

Chouhan on Tuesday formed his council of ministers by inducting five ministers, 29 days after he took oath as CM on March 23.

Tankha said the strength of the council violates the proviso to Article 164(1A) of the Constitution, which mandates the minimum strength of the council to be not less than 12, including the chief minister.


The formation of the council came a day after Tankha, along with another senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind asking him to direct the chief minister to constitute a council of ministers.

“For almost a month, the CM ran a single-member Cabinet in MP in violation of the constitutional requirement, resulting in administrative lapses and deaths in MP during the Covid-19 outbreak,” Tankha told ET. He said the CM “rushed to induct ministers after our second petition to the president and threat of legal action”.

“And now, when the CM finally rushed to expand his Cabinet due to the pressure we have mounted, he has still ended up violating the proviso to Article 164(1A). So, the MP Cabinet is still not proportionate to meet the administrative tasks in the state. This lays ground for me to seek appropriate legal remedy at the appropriate time,” he said.

“The one-man Cabinet brought ordinances that authorised the state government to burden the state with an additional loan of Rs 4,443 crore. This not only has grave fiscal implications on the fiscal health of the state but gives an unconstitutional act the colour of legality. There is enough ground to challenge its legal validity,” he said.