After SC order, Kamal Nath govt to face floor test at 2 pm today

The Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh is all set to witness a floor test at 2 pm on Friday (March 20), following the Supreme Court’s Thursday order to Speaker NP Prajapati to conduct the same in the Assembly by 5 pm.

Following the court’s order Prajapati accepted the resignations of the 16 rebel MLAs which was pending with him. He had earlier accepted that of six of the 22 rebel MLAs, taking down the effective strength of the Assembly to 206.

Ahead of the trust vote, Chief Minister Kamal Nath has convened a press meet at 12.

While hearing a petition of the BJP pleading for an urgent resolution to the issue, a bench headed by DY Chandrachud, said on Thursday (March 19) that the uncertainty over the Madhya Pradesh government should end.

“There will be only agenda – whether the government enjoys strength. The state of uncertainty in Madhya Pradesh should be effectively resolved by a floor test,” the court said.

Stating that prolonging the trust vote would encourage “horse-trading”, the bench said the voting process should be done peacefully, by a show of hands and has to be videographed and preferably live streamed.

The court also directed the police commissioners of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka to provide security to the rebel MLAs in case they wanted to participate in the trust vote. The 22 rebel MLAs are currently put up in a hotel in Bengaluru.

The trust vote could be the last nail in the coffin of the Kamal Nath’s Congress-led government, which will find it difficult to reach the magic number of 104 or the halfway mark, required to show majority in the House. After the resignation of the 22 Congress MLAs, the strength of the party has fallen from 114 to 92. The government is supported by two MLAs of the Bahujan Samaj Party, one from Samajwadi Party and four Independents, taking the total strength to 99.  The BJP, however, has 107 MLAs, way ahead of the majority mark of 104. It is being speculated that former BJP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan may return if the BJP manages to form government in the state.