With the results and leads portending a hung assembly in Karnataka, all eyes will be on governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, an old RSS hand and former colleague of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the case of a hung house, the Governor usually follows the constitutional convention to call the single largest party to form the government and prove its majority.

But in recent times, courts have endorsed political parties pulling together a post-election alliance to form the government. It happened in the Goa elections and the BJP formed the government.

Ergo, the decision by Vala will be critical.

Vala was born on January 23, 1937 at Rajkot, Gujarat and hold degrees in law and science.

He started his political career at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and subsequently joined Jan Sangh in 1971.

In 1975, he was elected as a councilor of the ward no. 6 of Rajkot Municipal Corporation and in February, 1983, he became the Mayor.

From 1983-88 and 1991-93, he was the Mayor of Rajkot Municipal Corporation.

During the emergency in 1975, he was imprisoned in Sabarmati Jail for eleven months.

In 1985, he was first elected as an MLA from Rajkot-II constituency.

From 1985 to 2012, he was elected continuously for seven times from the same seat.

During 1990 to 2012, he was a Cabinet minister in the governments of Narendra Modi and Keshubhai Patel and handled various portfolios like finance, revenue, employment, and energy.

Vala, the son of a Rajkot businessman, also hold an enviable record of presenting the Gujarat state budget for a record 18 times as the finance minister.

In 2001, Vala vacated his Rajkot-II seat for Narendra Modi to contest by-elections and become member of the Gujarat Assembly in 2002.

In December 2012, he was elected as the Speaker of Gujarat assembly and served till August 2014.

Vala is married to Manoramabahen and has two sons and two daughters.