Harish Rawat on Wednesday thanked the judiciary and Congress party after the Supreme Court announced the Congress' majority in the Uttarakhand Assembly floor test. Rawat, who will resume his duties as chief minister once President's Rule is lifted, also called for the Centre's cooperation in Uttarakhand. He said would also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that they will revoke President's Rule in Uttarakhand after Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi confirmed that the state's former Chief Minister Harish Rawat had won the support of a majority of the legislators during a floor test in the Assembly the previous day. The court said since he got 33 votes in the floor test, Rawat can take charge of the government as chief minister once again.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court was given a 90-minute video recording of the house proceedings, submitted in a sealed envelope after the voting. The Congress camp had needed 31 votes for a majority in the 70-member Assembly, with nine rebel MLAs barred from the process following a court verdict.
Congress lost one more MLA to the Opposition camp on the decisive day. Rekha Arya, who had been missing from the action for days, turned up with the BJP leaders and voted against Rawat, reported NDTV. Rawat, however, had the assurance of support from the Progressive Democratic Front, including two Bahujan Samajwadi MLAs who are no longer a part of it. BSP chief Mayawati later clarified that she had only support the Congress because it was a floor test, and that her party would contest any elections alone.
After Tuesday's test, BJP member Ganesh Joshi had said, ”BJP couldn’t defeat the Congress in the number game.” Uttarakhand will have its next state Assembly elections in 2017.
Though the results were formally announced on Wednesday, the speculations had the political circles buzzing as reactions started pouring in on Tuesday. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "Uttarakhand floor test outcome is a huge setback for Modi government. Hope they will stop toppling governments now."
Union minister Nitin Gadkari had said, "In a democracy, we have to accept that. It is on the floor of the House [trial of strength] as per the decision of Supreme Court, Uttarakhand Assembly sat and [there is] majority for Congress, so we will co-operate."
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