Congress’s Harish Rawat wins Uttarakhand floor test, BJP loses face
NEW DELHI: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat has won the Assembly floor test, Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
He also told the court that the Centre will now revoke President’s Rule in the state.
The Congress’s Rawat got the support of 33 of the 61 MLAs who voted.
The floor test, also called a trust vote, was held to ascertain whether the ousted chief minister still enjoys a majority in the House. The Centre imposed President’s Rule in Uttarakhand on March 27 saying Rawat lost his majority when nine Congress legislators rebelled.
Today’s result doesn’t come as a complete surprise, because most people knew yesterday which lawmakers planned to vote for Rawat.
The BJP had already suffered a setback, earlier this week, when the Supreme Court maintained that nine rebel Congress MLAs who were disqualified will remain so and won’t be allowed to vote in the floor test. If allowed to vote, these MLAs might have voted against Rawat yesterday.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi had yesterday hailed the floor test as a “victory for democracy”.
BJP members continue to say their party has won a ‘constitutional’ victory’ because the nine rebel Congress voted for the BJP in the past.
Uttarakhand plunged into a political crisis when nine Congress legislators, including former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, went against their own government in a debate on an Appropriation Bill on March 18 during the Budget Session of the Assembly.
The Centre then imposed President’s Rule in Uttarakhand on March 27, saying Rawat lost his majority when the nine Congress legislators rebelled. The Congress alleged that the Modi government acted illegally in getting rid of Rawat.
“We may have reason to exult”, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said yesterday at a party briefing.
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