Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday directed the Uddhav Thackeray Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to prove his majority on the floor of the House. The floor test is scheduled for June 30.
State governor has written to the Assembly secretary to convene a special session of the State Assembly tomorrow with the only agenda of a trust vote against Uddhav Thackeray.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the CM Thackeray camp’s plea challenging Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to conduct a floor test. The petitioner party has called the decision illegal as 16 rebel MLAs have yet to respond on their possible disqualification.
In the three-page letter, the Governor mentioned about the current political turmoil in the state and stated that a session will be conducted at 11 am on June 30 with the only agenda of a trust vote against the chief minister.
He also mentioned about 39 Shiv Sena MLAs expressing their desire to leave the MVA government. The Governor also stated that Raj Bhavan received an email from 7 independent MLAs stating that Maharashtra CM has lost the confidence of the majority on the floor of the House.
“After having carefully gone through all the material available before me, including the reports in electronic and print media, I am of the opinion that a floor test for proving the majority of the chief minister is imperative to ensure that the government continues to function with the confidence of the House,” Koshyari stated in the letter.
The letter added, “As the constitutional head of the state, I must ensure that the government functions with the support and confidence of the House. A communication has been issued to the chief minister to prove his majority on the floor of the House on June 30.”
It is mentioned that the floor test will be conducted by asking members to rise in their seats for the purpose of counting votes as contemplated under the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules.
The House proceedings will be videographed and telecasted live. It is directed that the test should be videographed by Vidhan Sabha Secretariat through an independent agency and shall be submitted to the governor.
The letter has also clarified that the entire proceedings of the house will be concluded on June 30 only and will not be adjourned in any case.
Adequate security will be deployed outside and inside the Vidhan Bhavan to maintain the sanctity of the voting process and also to pre-empt any law and order situation which may arise, the letter added.
What Is Floor Test?
A floor test is conducted to find out whether the government still enjoys the confidence of the legislature. It is a kind of constitutional mechanism under which a Governor can ask a Chief Minister to prove a majority on the floor of the Legislative Assembly. This can be practiced both in parliament and the state legislative assemblies.
The Chief Minister has to resign after failing to prove the majority in the house.
In the current scenario of Maharashtra, the Uddhav Thackeray government’s majority mark stands at 144 in the 287-member state Assembly. This majority included Shiv Sena with 55 MLAs, NCP with 53 MLAs and Congress with 44 MLAs.
After the Eknath Shinde-led rebel group announced its exit from the MVA government, the Shiv Sena MLAs’ count has been reduced to 15 only. Eknath Shinde has claimed that he has the support of 40 MLAs.
