Rajdeep Sardesai recently tweeted about Goa having 36 members with 11 ministers swearing into their posts along with the CM. This tweet of his saw a reply from user Nagendra Sharma who is seen to be a former journalist. He replied questioning Sardesai’s claim asking whether the 15 % rule does not apply to Goa. This had many people giving out different claims. This situation can be easily resolved by reading the law.

According to Article 164 (1A) “The total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State provided that the number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister in a State, shall not be less than twelve.

Thus it is indeed true that every state has to take this into consideration, however, with an exception of few states. Smaller states like Sikkim, Mizoram and Goa 32, 40 and 40 members in the Legislative Assemblies respectively, a minimum strength of seven ministers and a maximum of twelve ministers is proposed. This information can be seen provided by mainstream news agencies like The Hindu and Times of India, as well as other websites such as Law Notes and India Kanoon.

People on social media, especially replies to Rajdeep Sardesai’s tweet has seen a variety of replies. Some say that the BJP government has broken the rule, some explain the same rule for smaller states and some seem to be confused whether the minimum or maximum limit is 12. Even when searching for evidences, the sources regarding the rule for smaller states are very less. This can be considered as a reason for the fewer knowledge people have towards the article and its functions. Thus it is high time that more updated sources regarding the laws have to be put out.

Thus, it can be concluded that BJP did not break the rule of Article 164 (1A) of the constitution.