The Supreme Court on Friday ordered ousted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat to take a floor test at a specially-convened session of the Assembly on Tuesday. The court did not give relief to nine disqualified rebel Congress MlAs to take part in the floor test. However, it added that the order will not “prejudice” the judgment of the Uttarakhand High Court which is likely to pass a verdict on the disqualification of the MlAs on Saturday.
The interim ruling by the apex court came after the Centre agreed to a floor test by Harish Rawat even as the State is under President’s Rule. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi informed the court that the Centre was open to having a floor test by Rawat, provided that the nine rebel MlAs also participate in the voting that may be supervised by an independent observer.
The suggestion met with stiff opposition from the Congress’ legal stalwarts Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal. They pointed out that allowing disqualified MlAs to vote will amount to “short-circuiting” the Constitutional process under the Tenth Schedule by which they stand disqualified.
The court noted in its order, “As long as disqualification remains, this court cannot allow the nine members to vote.”
On the question of an independent observer, both Sibal and Singhvi were opposed to the AG’s suggestion of having a former Election Commissioner or even a Constitutional expert, such as Subhash Kashyap, to independently oversee the voting process. This will amount to interference of an outsider in the legislative business of the House, the leaders of the Congress argued.
Giving a way out, the Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh directed the Principal Secretary of the legislative Assembly to be present during the special session to be convened on Tuesday from 11 am to 1 pm just to conduct the voting and no other business.
During this period, President’s Rule will be kept in “abeyance” and will be restored upon the conclusion of the session.
The court directed that once the motion of confidence to vote begins, the said officer shall ensure proceedings are peacefully carried out by ensuring that those in favour of Rawat’s continuation come to one corner of the House, while those opposing him shift to the other corner.
The entire proceedings will be video-recorded and vote by show of hands by the members, will be counted. The names will be noted by the Principal Secretary who will tabulate the results and present it to the court on Wednesday in a sealed cover. A copy of the video will also be produced along with the result, the Bench directed.
In passing this decision, the court relied on a decision of the apex court passed in 2005 when the apex court ordered a similar floor test under its supervision. In the present case too, the Bench directed the Chief Secretary and State DGP to ensure all elected members are brought to the House safely without any hindrance and warned that any deviation by a member in the House will be “viewed seriously”.