Political turmoil in Uttrakhand

Political turmoil in Uttrakhand

The political turmoil in the Uttrakhand from past few days led to the central government imposing President rule in the state under article 356 of the Indian Constitution. Uttrakhand congress government is facing the same type of crisis that it faced in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Chief Minister Harish Rawat had to prove his majority in the house of legislative assembly on March 28 but a day before he could prove his majority president rule was imposed. It is shocking that before Harish Rawat could prove his majority on the floor of house of the assembly, the central government imposed Presidents rule in Uttrakhand.

The political crisis happened due to an internal rift in the congress party, 9 MLAs of congress withdrew their support to CM Harish Rawat. All this political havoc started when few congress MLAs challenged the majority of the ruling congress government inside the house. During the budget session of the Uttrakhand Legislative Assembly, the ruling congress government passed the Money Amendment Bill relating to the budget with the sound majority. 9 MLAs of congress were against passing of bill by sound majority and also they were not in favor of the bill. The final decision regarding the passed amendment bill is with the speaker of the house and his decision cannot be challenged.

The members of the Legislative Assembly have the full right to challenge the majority of the ruling government in the state. Therefore some of the rebel congress MLAs with their opposition MLAs went to the governor and complained to him that the ruling government does not have the required number to run the government, so they requested the governor to dismiss the Congress government. 

Governor considering their request had given the time till 28^th march to Harish Rawat to prove his majority.The recent happenings in the Uttrakhand and the failure of government in the state led the President Pranab Mukerjee to impose the article 356 of the constitution. Harish Rawat would now challenge this decision in the Uttrakhand high court.

Under the anti defection law, the speaker govind kumar disqualified the 9 rebel congress MLAs from the house. This disqualification came after the 9 rebel congress MLAs failed to respond to the notices issued to them under anti defection law.

With 9 MLAs of congress being disqualified, the current strength of house has come down to 61and now the mark for majority to form government is 31. In the current scenario Harish Rawat has support of 27 MLAs and 6 MLAs are also supporting him 2 from BSP, 1 from Uttrakhand Kranti Dal and 3 independent, while BJP has its 28 MLAs.

While the numbers are in favor of Harish Rawat, it will be interesting to see who will form the government finally in Uttrakhand.   

Akshay Raina