Indian president doing groundwork for new Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: President of India Pranab Mukherjee has been doing the groundwork in preparation for a new Lok Sabha, holding meetings with legal and constitutional experts.
According to Indian constitution, if a party or alliance get a clear majority, the President's will invite that party alliance. But in case of a hung house, president will play a larger role, according to a news agency.
An English daily report today that Pranab Mukherjee met noted jurists Fali Anariman, Soli Sorabjee and Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran last week.
The meetings, days ahead of the results, are being linked to the government formation exercise in which the President will play a pivotal role, especially if no party or pre-poll political formation gets 272 seats.
Mukherjee has also met his newly-appointed special legal advisor T K Viswanathan, former union law secretary and former secretary-general of the Lok Sabha.
A former professor of law at Madras University, Vishwanathan's appointment as a consultant to Rashtrapati Bhawan is an unusual step as the President traditionally seeks legal opinion from the government's law officers instead of appointing his own consultant.
Election results are traditionally presented to the President by the Election Commission once the counting exercise is over, which takes a day or two after the declaration of results. With the counting scheduled for May 16, official results are expected to be presented to Mukherjee by May 18-19.