The brewing political crisis in Maharashtra has finally reached the stage of a floor test. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has asked the state Assembly secretary to convene a special session of the state Assembly on Thursday, June 30, to initiate a trust vote against the incumbent CM Uddhav Thackeray. But what is a floor test and why is the Shiv Sena opposing it? Let us understand:
What is a floor test?
A floor test is a measure to check whether the executive is enjoying the confidence of the legislature. While the constitution does not mandate a political party to have an absolute majority for forming the government, the ministers forming the executive must enjoy the confidence of the legislature, which represents the will of the public. In cases where this majority is questioned, the leader of the House needs to prove the majority by undergoing a trust vote. If the leader fails to do so, he/she is bound to resign from the position, thereby leading to the dissolution of the entire House. The trust vote or the floor test can be initiated both, at the Central, as well as state levels.
The Maharashtra scenario
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has a total of 285 seats at present (reduced from a total of 288 after the arrest of two MLAs and the death of another) with the majority mark at 143. While the MVA coalition has a total of 150 seats, the BJP has 106 seats in the assembly. However, amid the crisis in Maharashtra, almost 40 Shiv Sena MLAs have expressed their opposition to taking down the MVA numbers below a majority. If these disgruntled MLAs oppose the MVA alliance in the Assembly in the floor test, the Maharashtra government is likely to fall.
Can a floor test be postponed?
The Supreme court on Monday had given time till July 12 to the rebel Sena leaders to respond to the disqualification notice issued by the Maharashtra Deputy Speaker on June 25. Citing this as the reason, the Shiv Sena leaders and party loyalists have stated that it is ‘unlawful’ to initiate a floor test when the disqualification decision of the rebel leaders is pending. However, the previous judgments of the Supreme Court had ruled that the floor test needs not to be deferred even if the decision to disqualify the members is pending. In the 2020 Shivraj Singh Chouhan v/s Speaker case, the court had clarified the same. Additionally, the top court had allowed the rebel leaders to skip the floor test during the political crisis in Karnataka in 2019.
However, the Sena leaders have approached the apex court to defer the floor test, which will be heard at 5 PM on Wednesday.