Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya likely to play crucial role in govt formation as Haryana gets hung Assembly; ex-RSS activist under spotlight

As the current Haryana Assembly election results pour in, a  tough competition  has emerged between the BJP and the Congress to bag the top spot. The BJP is expected to garner 39 out of the 90 seats in the Assembly (by afternoon it had won 22 and was leading in 17), while the Congress trailing at second position with 14 wins and 16 leads. If the trend continues, Haryana is likely to have a hung Assembly, and going by what had transpired following past Assembly election results like in Karnataka, the role of Haryana governor Satyadev Narayan Arya will become crucial, especially since it’s the duty of the governor to appoint the next chief minister. [caption id=“attachment_7549771” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Haryana governor Satyadev Narayan Arya. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Though a governor is supposed to act in a non-partisan manner, in the past, old political affiliations have often been seen to have an influence on the manner in which this constitutional duty has been carried out. A former BJP leader and Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh activist, Arya has elected to Bihar Vidhan Sabha eight times from the Rajgir Assembly constituency. He was appointed the 17th Governor of Haryana on 25 August, 2018, replacing Kaptan Singh Solanki who became the new Governor of Tripura. Arya was also a minister in the 2010 BJP-JDU government in Bihar. He was born at Gandhi Tola in Rajgir in Bihar’s Nalanda district on 1 July, 1939. He holds an MA degree and is a law graduate from Patna University. In the past, Arya has held the portfolios of Minister of Rural Development from 1979-80 and Minister of Mines and Geology, Bihar, in 2010. He is known for his frank and straightforward approach towards political, administrative and constitutional matters. Arya has also served as the president of the Scheduled Caste cell of BJP’s Bihar unit for two terms from 1988-1998. He joined the RSS in 1962. Click here for LIVE updates of the Haryana Assembly election results 2019 Krishna Murari, the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, administered the oath of office to Arya, according to an official release reported by PTI. The function was attended by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court, senior officers of Haryana, Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh and prominent citizens of the city. Other prominent persons who had attended Arya’s oath-taking ceremony included the Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Kanwar Pal Gujjar, state health minister Anil Vij, Minister of State for Mines and Geology, Nayab Singh Saini, and Rattan Lal Kataria, among others. With inputs from PTI