What SC Said While Ordering a Floor Test Amid Maha Power Struggle

Pro tem speaker will administer oath to elected members & trust vote will be conducted without the secret ballot.

SC Orders Floor Test in Maharashtra: Key Highlights

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bharadwaj

The floor test for Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to prove his majority in the Assembly will be conducted on Wednesday, 27 November, the Supreme Court has directed.

Stating that it is necessary to have a floor test to avoid horse trading, the apex court on Tuesday, 26 November, also asked Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to appoint a pro tem speaker and ensure that all elected members of the House are sworn in on Wednesday itself.

The entire exercise will be telecast live and has to be completed latest by 5 pm, said a bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna.

The pro tem speaker will administer oath to the newly elected members and the trust vote will be conducted without the use of secret ballot.

Reply to Main Petition in Eight Weeks

The apex court concluded the brief proceeding by saying that replies to the main petition filed by the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine against the governor's decision to swear Fadnavis as chief minister will be done in eight weeks.

The court said it was necessary to pass an interim order for a floor test to uphold democratic values and the citizens' rights to good governance.

It was imperative for the court to be cognisant of the prevailing circumstances, the bench added.

The top court also said that for a stable government in the state, the floor test has to be conducted as soon as possible and the governor should appoint a pro-tem speaker for administering oath to the elected members.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP is the single-largest party with 105 MLAs, followed by the Shiv Sena (56 MLAs), the NCP (54 MLAs) and the Congress (44 MLAs).