This Article is From Mar 31, 2016

Centre Gains Uttarakhand Ground, Court Stops Trust Vote: 10 Developments

Harish Rawat has been asked to face a trust vote in Uttarakhand on Thursday

Highlights

  • Harish Rawat was to take floor test tomorrow as per earlier court order
  • Court asks Centre to give explanation on President's Rule in Uttarakhand
  • Next court hearing on Wednesday
Dehradun: In rapid-fire developments in Uttarakhand, the Centre regained some ground today as a test of strength that Congress's Harish Rawat was to face tomorrow was put off by the High Court. The government, however, has to explain by Monday its much-debated decision to place the state under President's Rule.

Here are 10 developments in the story:

  1. Commenting that central rule should not be used for political reasons, the High Court questioned "the hurry to impose President's Rule when the governor had set a date for the floor test."

  2. "Floor test is the best test and the correct arena," said the court as the Centre argued against a trust vote on grounds that "there is no government" in Uttarakhand.

  3. The Centre said a trust vote would mean an assembly sitting and "two governments, one that has had the sitting and one that is there under central rule."

  4. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said: "The assembly building is empty, there is no government, there is no MLA (lawmaker) once 356 (President's Rule) is in place."

  5. The court's ruling yesterday ordering a trust vote was seen as embarrassing for the Centre, which had ordered President's Rule on the weekend.

  6. Till last week, Harish Rawat was Chief Minister, confronting dissidence within his Congress party. Earlier this month, nine Congress rebel lawmakers voted against him on the state's budget.

  7. The Centre said this proved that the Congress government had been reduced to a minority. Mr Rawat and his party refuted that allegation, and were told by Governor KK Paul to take a trust vote on Monday, March 28.

  8. However, before that could happen, President Pranab Mukherjee sanctioned the Cabinet's recommendation for Uttarakhand to be governed by the Centre.

  9. Adding to Mr Rawat's challenges is a video aired by a local news channel which claimed that he could be seen and heard offering bribes to lure back the nine rebels.

  10. Uttarakhand is one of eight states governed by the Congress (among those are Kerala and Assam where elections have been called). Earlier this year, its government in Arunachal Pradesh collapsed, again, after a mutiny within its legislators.



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