Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won the floor test in the absence of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly on Monday. As many as 129 MLAs voted in favour of the Bihar government led by Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Speaker announced the results as opposition leaders, including those from Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), walked out of the state assembly just ahead of the trust vote. The floor test was held for the Nitish Kumar-led government to prove that it had support of the majority of the MLAs in the assembly.
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The crucial floor test of Nitish Kumar grabbed the eyeballs as it remained suspenseful amid fear of NDA and RJD MLAs switching sides. The twists and turns witnessed since the beginning of the day couldn’t stop Nitish Kumar from winning the trust vote. Here’s a look at how Nitish Kumar won the no-confidence motion amid the lingering suspense.
1. NDA in Bihar has 128 MLAs but Nitish won with 129 votes
Nitish Kumar received the support of 129 MLAs during the voting on the confidence motion in the assembly on Monday. This was despite the JD(U) and the NDA — which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and one independent candidate — having 128 MLAs in total.
Of the 129 MLAs, 126 (of 128) were reportedly from the ruling alliance and three were from the RJD. The question is, who are the two MLAs from the NDA who didn’t vote for Nitish Kumar’s government? Sources were quoted by Hindustan as saying that JDU MLA Dilip Rai abstained from voting in the floor test.
2. Nitish Kumar got 129 votes while 125 MLAs voted to oust Speaker
Just before the floor test, the Bihar Assembly passed the no-confidence motion against Bihar Assembly Speaker and RJD leader Awadh Bihari Choudhary. During the no-confidence motion, 125 members voted in favour of the resolution brought by the ruling NDA alliance and 112 against.
The question arises: Why Nitish Kumar win the trust vote with the support of 129 MLAs when 125 MLAs had voted in favour of the resolution brought by the JDU-BJP alliance against the Speaker earlier? Did cross-voting happen there?
3. 8 MLAs keep NDA alliance on the edge
According to reports, as many as eight MLAs from the NDA and the RJD kept the initial hours of the Bihar assembly session suspenseful.
Three RJD MLAs — Chetan Anand, Neelam Devi and Prahlad Yadav — were seen sitting on the treasury benches — in a show of support for Nitish Kumar — in the Bihar Assembly. This came as a big blow to Tejashwi Yadav’s and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD.
Meanwhile, sources told India Today that five MLAs of the NDA — including three from the BJP and two from the JD(U) — were “off the radar” during the assembly session.
The trust vote was necessitated after Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the record ninth time in January after leaving his alliance with the RJD and again forming a government with the BJP.
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Published: 12 Feb 2024, 04:33 PM IST