The Supreme Court will on Wednesday declare the results of Tuesday’s floor test in the Uttarakhand Assembly in which ousted chief minister Harish Rawat faced a vote of confidence with MLAs voting for and against the motion. The nine Congress MLAs disqualified by the Speaker were not allowed to vote.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh, during the course of hearing of the appeals against the Uttarakhand high court judgment quashing President’s Rule in the state, had ordered a “floor test” by keeping President’s Rule in abeyance during the voting period and asked the Speaker to submit the results in a “sealed cover”.
Accordingly, the Speaker is expected to submit a report in a sealed cover along with the votes polled. The bench will open the sealed cover and formally declare the results which would determine whether or not Mr Rawat had proved his majority on the floor of the House. If the voting goes in favour of Mr Rawat, the bench will ask the Centre to take a call on advising the President to lift President’s Rule to enable Mr Rawat to be sworn in as CM by the governor. This will arise if the Centre’s appeal is to be adjudicated as an academic exercise on legal issues.
If attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi informs the court that the Centre is withdrawing its appeal against the high court verdict quashing President’s Rule, then status quo ante will be restored and Mr Rawat will become CM and there may not be a need for a fresh swearing-in. The Centre’s stand, however, will depend on the result of the floor test.
Normally the courts will not interfere in President’s Rule. But, in this case, the court justified its intervention and the appointment of an observer for the “floor test”, saying the purpose is to save the sanctity of democracy which is the basic feature of our Constitution.
This court, being the sentinel on the qui vive of the Constitution, is under the obligation to see that democracy prevails and is not hollowed by individuals. The directions which have been given were singularly for the purpose of strengthening democratic values and constitutional norms.
This is the third time that the apex court had a ordered floor test to determine the majority in the Assembly. It first happened in February 1998 when Kalyan Singh and Jagdambika Pal tested their respective strengths. At that time the UP governor summarily dismissed the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government and appointed Loktantrik Congress leader Jagdambika Pal as CM. In the floor test conducted under the supervision of the apex court, Kalyan Singh proved his majority and became CM.
Similarly, in March 2005, when the Jharkhand governor invited Shibhu Soren to form the government, the apex court ordered a composite floor test to determine whether Shibu Soren or Arjun Munda enjoyed majority. Since Shibu Soren failed to prove his majority and resigned, Arjun Munda became CM.
