BJP destroying democratic principles; Congress tells SC over floor test in MP

New Delhi: The BJP is using force and might to invariably destroy democratic principles, Advocate Dushyant Dave appearing for the Congress party told the Supreme Court on Wednesday during the hearing on the former’s plea seeking directions for conducting an immediate floor test in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.

Dave told a two-judge bench headed by Justice Dr DY Chandrachud and also comprising of Justice Hemant Gupta that a very stable government was functioning in the state for the past 18 months and urged that the MLAs who resigned from Congress must go back to the electorate and win the election again.
Justice Gupta responded by saying “it is what they are doing. They are giving up on their membership and may go back again to voters.”

Dave said that is a very limited interpretation. “Heavens aren’t falling that the Congress government must immediately go and Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government must be saddled on the people,” he said.

Dave argued that stable governance should be considered as a basic structure of the Indian Constitution so that nobody tends to work against the stability of an elected government.

Supreme Court Justice Hemant Gupta, after hearing this, says, ‘that’s what they are doing. They are giving up on their membership and may go back again to voters.’ (1/2) https://t.co/JLB7CgprKU

— ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2020

“The most fundamental issue today is how can Governor direct for a floor test? He is nobody to decide this,” Dave said.

“If 22 MLAs belonging to Congress have resigned and if seat fell vacant, how can a trust vote be held without their presence? They are the representatives of the electorate of the said 22 constituencies which can only be secured by holding by-elections,” he added.

Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for petitioner and BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan, submitted that the Supreme Court had said that Governor must first try to find an alternative before making such a report.

Rohatgi said that there are videos that would show that these people are saying that it is being portrayed as though they are kidnapped but they are there on their own violation.

Chouhan and other BJP leaders had approached the apex court seeking a floor test in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly amidst the ongoing political crisis in the state.

This comes after a political crisis erupted in Madhya Pradesh after prominent Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party, following which 22 MLAs also tendered their resignation.

Earlier, Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon had written a letter to Chief Minister Kamal Nath directing him to conduct the floor test on March 17. (ANI)