Quick Edit | Thrice as much

Even in a country used to seeing legislators wasting taxpayer funds, events in Karnataka should mark a nadir of sorts. Today, the Karnataka legislative assembly meets to vote on a trust motion moved by the government. The outcome of the vote, the second such in four days, may be irrelevant because the Karnataka high court has ruled that the outcome will be dependent on a judgement it will deliver on 18 October—on whether or not the five independent representatives of the assembly who were disqualified by the speaker and thereby prevented from taking part in Monday’s trust vote can go ahead and do so. If the court rules that they can indeed vote, a third trust vote may have to be conducted, though there is no clarity on this as yet. Surely, the governor could have waited for the court’s verdict before asking the government to seek a conclusive trust vote.