Floor of House only real test: SC
NEWDELHI: An immediate floor test is crucial to protect democratic values when there are fears of “horse trading”, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday as it brought forward a two-week deadline to 24 hours for a confidence motion to be conducted in the Maharashtra assembly — a ruling that was followed by the resignation of BJP leader Devendra
Fadnavis who said that he did not have the numbers to prove majority.
The ruling was the sixth time in two decades that the country’s top court ordered for a chief minister of a state to prove his majority within 24 hours.
“In a situation wherein, if the floor test is delayed, there is a possibility of horse-trading, it becomes incumbent upon the court to act to protect democratic values,’’ said a bench of justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna. Cited a 1994 ninejudge SC bench’s decision, it said wherever “a doubt arises whether the Council of Ministers has lost the confidence of the House, the only way of testing it is on the floor of the House”.
AFTER THE SC ORDER AND THE RESIGNATION OF FADNAVIS, THE LEADERSHIP OF THE 3 PARTIES MET AND UNANIMOUSLY DECIDED UDDHAV THACKERAY WOULD BE THE CM
MUMBAI: The surprise move by the BJP and Ajit Pawar to come together and announce they were forming the government in the state — on Saturday — may have proved unsuccessful in the end, but it does seem to have been the jolt the Shiv Sena-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party needed.
After all, the alliance-in-themaking had spent days discussing a partnership without arriving at closure. On Friday evening, finally, they announced they would meet the governor and stake claim to form the government the following day. Only to be pipped at the post.
But over the past three days, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (as the three party alliance is named) didn’t put a foot wrong. On Saturday, they approached the Supreme Court. By Monday they staked claim to form the government, with proof that they had the numbers.
On Tuesday, the court ordered a floor test of the Devendra Fadnavis led grouping. He resigned soon after. By evening the three parties finalised the power sharing formula. They are expected to swear in their ministers over the next few days.
A section of the leaders from the Congress and the NCP admit that it was the delay in finalising the deal that may have given an opportunity to the Bharatiya Janata Party to convince Ajit Pawar to join its government. The leaders add that distrust between Congress and NCP may have been one of the reasons for the delay in the talks. Saturday’s shock proved to be just what the doctor ordered, though.
“The alliance has emerged stronger after the jolt it received on Saturday. The Congress, which took four weeks to hold a meeting to elect its legislative party leader, announced the appointment within two hours of the Supreme Court verdict on Tuesday. The sharing of the portfolios between the three parties too has almost been finalised,” pointed out a senior Congress leader who did not want to be named.
There also seems to have been a division of responsibilities. The NCP focused on keeping its flock together and finalised the terms of the alliance. The Sena ensured legislators of all three parties were not exposed to poaching. And the Congress took charge of the legal fight.
After the Supreme Court order and the resignation of Devendra Fadnavis, the leadership of the three parties met at Hotel Sofitel, where they unanimously decided that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray would be the CM of the grouping for the entire term.