The Haryana Assembly should be dissolved as the current government is in a minority and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party could attempt horse-trading, the Congress leaders in the state told Governor Bandaru Dattatreya on Thursday.
In the 90-member House, the BJP has 41 MLAs and the support of one independent MLA along with a lone legislator of the Haryana Lokhit Party. A party or coalition needs 46 seats to stay in power.
However, the state Assembly currently has a strength of 88 MLAs.
“The government does not have the moral right to stay in power,” Haryana’s Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda told reporters after submitting a memorandum to the governor, reported PTI. “We have demanded that the House should be dissolved and fresh elections should be held.”
The Opposition party’s memorandum said that the BJP government lacks the majority unless it attempts horse-trading or other unconstitutional means.
“To stop horse trading, which will bring a bad name to the state, the Assembly should be dissolved,” Hooda said. “This is what we have urged [the governor].”
The memorandum urged the governor to impose president’s rule in the state to maintain the “sanctity and purity of democracy in the state”, reported PTI.
The Opposition party also sought fresh Assembly elections to allow voters to elect a popular government. On May 10, the Congress had submitted a similar memorandum to the governor demanding the dismissal of the BJP government and fresh elections.
This came after Jannayak Janta Party leader and former Haryana Deputy Chief MinisterDushyant Chautala said he would support the Congress if the party decides to topple the BJP-led government in the state during elections. He also demanded a floor test for the BJP government to prove its majority in the house.
His remark came a day after three independent MLAs – Sombir Sangwan, Randhir Singh Gollen and Dharampal Gonder – withdrew their support from the BJP government in Haryana.
On Wednesday, a sitting Congress MLA from Tosham Assembly seat, Kiran Choudhry and her daughter, Shruti Choudhry, joined the BJP.
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