BackFadnavis govt wins trust vote amid Congress, Shiv Sena protests
Govt wins motion of confidence by a voice vote; Shiv Sena, Congress demand vote count
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Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Maharashtra won a motion of confidence in the assembly on Wednesday by a voice vote amid protests by its estranged partner, the Shiv Sena, and the Congress that demanded a vote count.
Persuaded by the government, both the Shiv Sena and the Congress had withdrawn their candidates for the speaker’s post earlier in the day, following which Haribhau Bagade of the BJP won unopposed. When BJP legislator Ashish Shelar moved the confidence motion, speaker Bagade asked for a voice vote, which he declared passed.
Legislators from the Sena and Congress protested loudly, demanding a division of votes, while those from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which had offered unsolicited support to the BJP, remained silent. The two opposition parties demanded that the governor not address a joint session of the state legislature, as the government, they said, had not secured the trust vote as per his directives.
Sena legislators then rushed to block the governor’s motorcade at the gates of the assembly. Once the governor made it to the assembly building, things took a nasty turn when Congress legislators tried to prevent the governor from entering the building elevator. BJP leaders claimed that governor C. Vidyasagar Rao’s hand was injured in the scuffle.
Soon after, BJP leaders moved a motion demanding the suspension of five Congress legislators for two years, which was approved by the House. Those who were suspended include Jaykumar Gore, Abdul Sattar, Amar Kale, Rahul Bondre and Virendra Jagtap.
Speaker Bagade told reporters that if the Congress and Sena wanted a division of votes, they should have made their demand as soon as the confidence motion was tabled. “But opposition parties made their demand as an afterthought, when I called for the next item on the agenda of the House. And once the next item on agenda is called by the speaker, it is presumed that the earlier business is over."
However, according to a senior BJP legislator, who did not want to be named, the real motive was something else. “Even if a division of votes had taken place, the government would have proved its majority in the House easily. But we wanted to ensure that it does not go in record books that the BJP government secured trust vote with direct or indirect support of the NCP."
A minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government, who did not want to be identified, claimed, “There are many precedents of trust votes getting passed with voice vote. In 1989, Prime Minister V.P. Singh’s government obtained a trust vote through a voice vote. In Maharashtra too, the BJP-Sena government during 1995-99, which too was a minority government, obtained its trust vote through voice vote. So, the opposition’s claim that today’s trust was unconstitutional is ludicrous."
Former deputy chief minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal mocked the Sena leadership’s inexperience. “While the speaker was calling for the confidence motion to be tabled, Sena leaders had staged a walkout on some petty issue; you (mediapersons) should ask Sena why they staged a walkout."
On Tuesday, NCP president Sharad Pawar had said the party will clarify on whether it will vote for the confidence motion or abstain after reviewing the situation in the House.
Constitutional expert and Bombay high court lawyer Shreehari Aney said, “The speaker is well within rights to accept or reject a demand for division votes. The constitution doesn’t prescribe any particular method to prove majority on the floor of House; so, voice vote and division of votes are both constitutional methods."
Prakash Akolkar, political editor of Marathi newspaper Sakal said, “This special session of the state assembly was called with the specific purpose of finding out whether this government has the support of 145 or more legislators or not. Since confidence motion was passed with a voice vote, people of the state do not know whether this government has majority or not; so, legitimacy of this government is in doubt."
Later, in his address to a joint session of the state legislature, governor Rao listed the priorities of the new government. He announced that the government will enact a Delivery of Services Guarantee Act at the earliest to provide the right to timely, efficient, effective and transparent public service to citizens.
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