Congress is huddling to pick a chief minister in Kerala, where the party registered a dominating performance in the recently concluded assembly elections. In almost all the states and UTs, the winning parties have either formed the government or finalised the chief minister, except Kerala.

Congress is reportedly locked in discussion from Thiruvananthapuram to New Delhi to pick one among KC Venugopal, VD Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala. According to the information, the majority of MLAs and MPs have backed Venugopal's claim, while Satheesan's work as LoP in the last assembly and support from the ally Indian Union Muslim League have raised his stakes.

The final call on the CM post is expected to be taken by Rahul Gandhi, as a meeting was reportedly held at Mallikarjun Kharge's residence in New Delhi, where all the leaders were asked to stop the advertisement against each other, a trend which started in the past couple of days.

The stretched deliberations have now created unease among the political watchers and citizens in Kerala. The main question that arises is how much time Congress have to finalise a name and what happens if it fails to do so within that time period.

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How much time does Congress have?

As per the Constitution, Congress has to decide the name of the next CM before the last assembly ends. The existing Assembly in Kerala is ending on May 23.

By May 23, a new Assembly will have to be convened; otherwise, the state will be put under the President's Rule, under Article 356.

Therefore, Congress has to decide on a name and stake a claim to form the government. Following this, the government will be formed by an oath ceremony for the Council of Ministers, headed by the CM.

The step will be followed by a decision on the Protem Speaker, who would be administered an oath by the Governor.

The Governor will then order to convene the Assembly at the earliest to avoid a constitutional deadlock of passing the deadline.

The Assembly will be convened, and the protem Speaker will administer the oath to the rest of the MLAs.

Considering the Constitutional procedures involved, the party has only about 10 days left to decide on the name.

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Why is the Governor not inviting the majority party?

In case of a clear majority for a party or a pre-election alliance, by convention, the party or alliance stakes claim and gets an invitation to form the government in return. The Governor's role in inviting is lesser in clear majority cases than in the hung assembly.

In case of a hung assembly or no clear majority for any pre-poll alliance, the Governor has discretion on deciding whom to invite.

However, in both cases, the party or the alliance forming the government has to prove majority on the floor of the House.