All eyes on HDK’s floor test today

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will face a floor test on Friday which he is widely expected to sail through, barring any unforeseeable events, ending the 10-day political uncertainty in the state.

The 58-year-old Kumaraswamy, who was sworn in at a grand assembly of leaders of non-BJP parties on Wednesday, looks sitting pretty given the strength of the JD(S)Congress-BSP coalition in the House.

While the Congress has 78 MLAs, Kumaraswamy's JD(S) has 36, and BSP 1. The alliance has also claimed support of the lone KPJP MLA and an independent. Kumaraswamy had won from two constituencies.

Singing swan song again, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar cast his aspersion on the use of Electronic Voting Machines in the recentlyconcluded Assembly polls and urged the Election Commission of India to go back to ballot papers.

“Some of our leaders including me feel EVMs have been manipulated by BJP. Many Congress leaders lost at places where Congress had a stronghold. We will complain to EC to move back to ballot papers in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he told reporters here on Thursday.

Taking a dig at former CM and State BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa for alleging lack of coordination among Congress and JD(S) with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy holding a separate press conference in Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday, Dr Parameshwar asked the BJP leader to look what's happening in his own party instead of poking his nose in the newly-formed coalition government.