New Delhi : Ending almost six weeks of a ding-dong legal-cum-political battle, the Uttarakhand assembly on Tuesday held a floor test to assess the sacked chief minister Harish Rawat’s strength. After the voting a beaming Rawat said: “The cloud of uncertainty hovering over Uttarakhand will disappear tomorrow.”
There was a general air of jubilation in the Congress camp and its spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that they have reasons to exult but exult subject to the Supreme Court’s final decision.
Though the decision would be formally announced by the apex court on Wednesday as per its earlier orders, the outcome of the numbers game was never in doubt. In a house of 70, the effective strength had been brought down to 61 as nine Congress rebels stood disqualified. When the voting took place as per the orders of the Supreme Court, Harish Rawat had the support of 33 MLAs.
However, the trial of strength was not without ”defection” drama on the floor as one MLA each crossed both ways from the Congress to the BJP and vice versa. But BSP supremo Mayawati, in a clear signal to the voters of Uttar Pradesh, directed her two MLAs to vote for the Congress; the three independents and one MLA from a state outfit also backed Rawat.
As he addressed media persons, Singhvi could barely suppress his glee at the outcome of the Supreme Court monitored floor test in Uttarakhand. As the lawyer for the sacked chief minister Harish Rawat, he was exulting in the satisfaction of the outcome, even as he prefaced his observations with a heavy sprinkling ”of ”ifs…..
“The results will be declared by the Supreme Court tomorrow, but from media reports, and from statement even from the BJP leaders, we can be sure that this is a big day for democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism,” said Singhvi.
The senior lawyer said that this is the first time in independent India that the triple hierarchical process of a Single Judge, a Division Bench and the Supreme Court has worked itself out on Article 356 proclamation within less than 6 weeks.
“That is a reason for exultation alone by itself and also because the political process, apart from the legal and the court process, has also worked itself out in an orderly fashion on the floor of the House,” he added.
Taking a dig at the Modi government, Singhvi said that such political and legal misadventures in the abode of Gods constitute a Himalayan blunder. He added that if the Supreme Court ultimately sets aside the President’s rule, then questions would be asked of the Modi government whether the decision to impose the central rule was about the arrogance of power, or could be it ascribed to thee hubris of infallibility, or was it an attempt to divert attention from non-governance and mis-governance,
Singhvi said that he would be arguing for the lifting of President’s rule tomorrow after the verdict is announced by the apex court. ‘‘If, and that is a big if, the verdict is in our favour, then there is no reason for the President’s rule to continue,” he added.
Looking ahead, Singhvi said: ‘‘The apex court is equally entitled to revoke the President’s Rule, keep the matter in abeyance till July or August to decide the validity, in the formal legal sense, but yet allow the new government to be sworn or rather to start functioning. These are all matters that the apex court has in its power.”
For the crucial floor test to ascertain whether sacked Chief Minister Harish Rawat had the majority in the Uttarakhand Assembly, the apex court had lifted President’s rule for two hours on Tuesday. The assembly remained out of bounds for the media and none, other than those authorised, could witness the floor test; but the proceedings were recorded on video.
