The Supreme Court’s ‘interim’ order to conduct the floor test today as a ‘practical solution’ upheld the sanctity of democracy. In turning down the BJP’s request for a secret ballot and more time to prove majority, the apex court pre-empted unethical practices to manufacture a majority. The message is loud and clear: The ruling party and a Governor cannot have their way in contravention of the Constitution. In the course of the hearing, the top Court rejected BS Yeddyurappa’s counsel’s specious contention that anti-defection law cannot be invoked against the ‘defecting MlAs’ on the flimsy ground that they are yet to take oath as MlAs. Remember, people vote for what parties represent and promise, not to validate defection by individual elected representatives.
The question is whether the claim of the Congress-JD(S)-BSP alliance with a demonstrable majority is legal and not. Whether the post-poll alliance is ‘unholy’ or ‘sinful’; not to speak of their shared ideological hostility to the saffron party, is a different issue. The BJP was mistaken in presuming that the mandate was for it despite falling short of the majority-mark. There is no way the BJP can sail through if the Congress and JD(S) stay together. Political observers find it interesting that the BJP sounds confident that it will win despite little time and leeway for it to play the number-game to its advantage before the crucial trust vote. It is an uphill task for the BJP to entice MlAs to cross over to its side in such a short span of time. The emergence of democracy as the eventual winner in the hallowed Assembly of Karnataka is all that the nation wants and hopes for, whoever wins the battle of the numbers.