Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon, late Saturday night, ordered a trust vote in the state Legislative Assembly to be held on Monday, the first day of the Budget Session, to test the support for the Kamal Nath-led Congress government, PTI reported. The trust vote will take place soon after Tandon’s address to the Assembly at 11 am.

Until earlier this week, the state government, which was formed in late 2018, had the support of 121 MLAs in the 230-seat Assembly – 114 MLAs of the Congress, and the rest being from the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party and Independents. However, the resignations of as many as 22 Congress MLAs on Tuesday has made the government’s collapse imminent. The Bharatiya Janata Party has 107 MLAs, while two seats are vacant.

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The order for the floor test, which was sent to Nath’s office around midnight, came hours after Assembly Speaker NP Prajapati accepted the resignations of six former ministers who were expelled on the chief minister’s recommendation. He said he would take a call on the other 16 MLAs later.

In his letter to Nath, the governor said: “I came to know that 22 MLAs have sent their resignations to the MP Assembly speaker and they have also informed about it on electronic and print media. I have seen the coverage on both media with attention...They have also sent the letter to me separately on March 10, 2020 and the same MLAs have requested for security to present these resignation letters to the Vidhan Sabha speaker on March 13.”

Tandon said the proceedings would be recorded by an independent videographer, The Indian Express reported.

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The 22 MLAs had resigned after long-time Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, whom they were loyal to, quit the party. Scindia has since joined the BJP. Ahead of his exit, the MLAs were allegedly flown to BJP-ruled Karnataka in a bid to keep them together.

On Friday, Nath met the governor and told him that the BJP had indulged in “horse-trading” of legislators and had held 19 of them captive. He had also expressed readiness for a floor test. The BJP on Saturday urged the governor for an immediate floor test, claiming the government was in minority after the resignations.