New Delhi/March,16 :Madhya Pradesh political crisis on Monday reached the Supreme Court with senior BJP leader and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and nine other BJP MLAs filing a petition seeking immediate floor test.
They have challenged the state Assembly Speaker’s decision to adjourn the Assembly till March 26, defying the Governor’s direction for a floor test on Monday.
The petition was mentioned before the Mentioning Officer for urgent hearing and was likely to be taken up on Tuesday.
The BJP leaders submitted that on account of lack of confidence and resignation of 22 MLAs of the Congress, out of which the resignation of six MLAs having been already accepted by the Speaker, the Kamal Nath-led Congress government has been reduced to a minority.
In the 230-member House, two seats are vacant and the Congress — which had 114 MLAs — has been reduced to minority following resignation of 22 of its MLAs as the effective strength of the House would also come down to 206. The BJP has 107 MLAs.
The petitioners contended that the Kamal Nath government had “no moral, legal, democratic or constitutional right to remain in power even for a single day”.
The BJP leaders said, “All possible attempts are being made by the Chief Minister to convert his minority government into majority by giving all possible threats and allurements to the members of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. The horse-trading is at its peak. Therefore, it is essential that the floor test is conducted on March 16 itself as already directed by the Governor, so that it becomes absolutely clear as to whether the Chief Minister continues to enjoy the confidence of the majority of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.
“Any deferment of the floor test would further encourage horse-trading and be in utter violation of the directions issued by the Governor, law laid down by this court and the spirit and basic structure of the Constitution,” the petitioners said.
Citing the nine-judge Constitution Bench verdict in SR Bommai versus Union of India (1994) case, the petitioners said, “If the support to a government is withdrawn by some legislators and the government appears to have lost the confidence of the House, it is the duty of the Governor to direct the government to prove the majority by floor test.”
The Kamal Nath government went into a political crisis after senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party and joined the BJP on March 11. Twenty-two Congress MLAs loyal to him rendered resignation making the survival of the Congress government in the state almost impossible.
