Explained: What Is A Floor Test?

Governor BS Koshyari has summoned the Uddhav Thackeray led MVA to prove the majority in the state assembly by qualifying the floor test after the political crisis unfolded in the state.

The Maharashtra political quandary has precipitated a floor test on June 30 in the state¡¯s assembly as Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has convened a special session of the Assembly to initiate a trust vote against the incumbent CM Uddhav Thackeray, proving a majority on the floor of the house.

BCCL/Representational Image

The Floor test is summoned in the wake of the political crisis looming over the incumbent Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) after Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde has claimed that he has the support of 50 rebel MLAs and the MVA has lost the majority in the lower house.

What is a Floor Test?

A floor test or a ¡°No Confidence Motion¡± is a legislative measure conducted on the floor of the House to check whether the executive has the majority support in the legislature with the confidence of at least 51% of the members of the House. It is called for when an incumbent government is suspected to have lost the majority in the house.

ANI

Although the constitution does not demarcate any provision for a political party to be in absolute majority to form the government, the executive i.e., the ministers it is composed of must exercise the legislatures majority. Under the Article 164 of the Indian Constitution, ¡°the council of ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State.¡±

If the majority is questioned and the incumbent government fails to qualify the trust vote, the executive falls and the concerned ministers are required to resign from their respective positions. A no-confidence motion can be only be passed in the Lower Houses at both state and central hierarchies in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of states.

How is a Floor Test Conducted?

BCCL

After the summon for proving the majority in the house, the Chief Minister as the leader of the executive moves a motion to seek the vote of confidence. The Members of the Legislative Assemblies are then required to vote for or against the motion. If the majority of the house votes in favor of the motion, the government qualifies the test and continues to exercise their power but if the Chief Minister loses the motion the government is mandated to resign from the position.

The test can either be conducted via a voice vote where the members are expected to respond to the motion verbally or electronically which involves casting of votes by pressing the button, which then displays the votes on each side of the motion live on board. A physical ballot can also be put in effect where the ballot votes are counted for inference.

Why Maharashtra is calling for a floor test?

Reuters

Earlier in June, Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde has expressed disappointment with the party¡¯s alliance with the Indian National Congress (INC) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and has been campaigning against party chief and State Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray from Assam.

Shinde has claimed that he has support from 39 of the total Shiv Sena MLAs in the current Maharashtra assembly and would prefer forming a government with the 113 MLAs with the BJP led NDA.

Additionally, seven independent MLAs have also withdrawn their support from the MVA and in such conditions the Thackeray government with its remaining 16 and 44 and 53 MLAs from the INC and NCP respectively shall not be able to touch the majority mark of 144.

If Thackeray loses the confidence vote, the governor shall then invite the largest party i.e., the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the government and with the support from Shinde¡¯s clan and other NDA allies the BJP shall then preside over the state assembly for the remaining tenure of the term.

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