Two Karnataka Independent MLAs on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to allow them to withdraw their plea seeking its direction to State Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to conduct “forthwith” floor test on a trust motion moved by the HD Kumaraswamy Government.
The Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka headed by Chief Minister Kumaraswamy collapsed on Tuesday with 99 members voting for the motion and 105 against it in a House of 225 members, including the Speaker and a nominated member.
The counsel for the lawmakers - R Shankar and H Nagesh - told a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that the MLAs wanted to withdraw the petition as the floor test has been conducted.
The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, however, sought the presence of senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and A M Singhvi, who represented the lawmakers and Speaker, respectively, for passing the order allowing withdrawal of the plea.
“Where is Mukul Rohatgi? Where is AM Singhvi?” the bench asked, adding that it will pass the order only in the presence of the senior counsel who had taken a lot of time of the court in arguing the case.