The party is rather keen on exploring the possibility of forming a government

The prospect of a straight fight with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the risk of an adverse impact on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image in the event of a setback in Delhi are making the Bharatiya Janata Party wary of facing fresh elections in the national capital, said party leaders who did not want to be named.

The party is keen on exploring the possibility of forming a government in the current Assembly unless the Supreme Court hearing on November 11 on a plea by the AAP for its dissolution forces an election, a BJP functionary said.

The BJP would ideally like to wait for the results of the by-elections in three Assembly constituencies. Polling will take place on November 25, but the results will be announced only on December 23.

The assessment of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and the BJP is that the AAP is on a strong wicket in Delhi as Muslims, Sikhs and the poorest sections of society are united behind Arvind Kejriwal’s party.

The continuing downslide of the Congress has left these social groups with no option, which throws up the prospect of a direct contest between the AAP and the BJP. Unlike in Haryana and Maharashtra, where the BJP was the default choice of anti-Congress voters, the party has a formidable contender in the AAP in Delhi.

The BJP, however, is conscious that engineering a minority government and sustaining it would not be easy and there is a section within the party that believes that election is a better way out.

The AAP’s plea for dissolution has brought an unprecedented question before the apex court. In 2006, a Supreme Court Constitution Bench judgment that declared the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly in 2005 unconstitutional made two points clear — that the Governor must accept political realignments that allow government formation when there is no clear majority and that the Governor’s actions must not favour any particular party.

The judgment was not clear whether the Governor could make that exploration an endless process. The question is whether by delaying a decision on government formation, Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung is in violation of the second assertion in the apex court judgment.