Harish Rawat to benefit in Tuesday trust vote as SC upholds disqualification of nine rebel MLAs

This means that the 9 MLAs cannot vote in the confidence motion on Tuesday in the Uttarakhand assembly

Supreme Court has upheld the Uttarakhand High court's Monday morning ruling that prevents the 9 rebel Congress MLAs from voting in the trust vote that Harish Rawat will seek on Tuesday morning. The nine Congress members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) challenged the decision of the Uttarakhand High Court which has dismissed their petition against their disqualification by Assembly speaker.

This decision comes as a huge advantage for Harish Rawat in the trust vote he will seek in the Uttarakhand assembly tomorrow. He will now have to prove the support of only 31 MLAs. 

At present, in the 70-member assembly, BJP has 28 MLAs, Congress has 27, BSP has 02, while there are three independent MLAs and one belongs to Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) lawmaker. Nine Congress MLAs are disqualified and one is a BJP rebel.

Moments after Justice U C Dhyani of the high court pronounced his order on the petition challenging Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal's decision disqualifying them after they joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during proceedings on the Appropriation Bill on March 18, the MLAs moved the Supreme Court.

Counsel for the MLAs C A Sundaram mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India (CJI) T S Thakur about the high court verdict that had come earlier in the day. The CJI asked the counsel to approach the bench which had on Friday ordered the floor test.

Ordering a floor test on May 10 in the Assembly, the Supreme Court had said "if they (disqualified MLAs) have the same status" at the time of vote of confidence, they cannot participate in the House.

A specially convened two-hour-long session, during which the President's Rule will be kept in abeyance, will be held between 11 am and 1 pm for a "single agenda" of floor test, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh had said.

The apex court had said, "However, our observation in praesenti will not cause any kind of prejudice to the merits of the case of disqualified Members of Legislative Assembly, which is sub-judice before the High Court."