‘Why no floor test in Maharashtra ’

The Congress on Monday asked the BJP to clarify why the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra did not face a floor test and had opted for a voice vote when its minority government came to power in 2014, before giving sermons to other parties on the issue of “majority” in the Uttarakahnd Assembly.

Mr Fadnavis became CM when the Shiv Sena was the official Opposition in the state Assembly, the Congress was in the Opposition and the NCP did not back his government officially on the floor.

While drawing attention to the BJP’s contradictory stand on the issue of “floor test”, AICC spokesperson R.P.N. Singh charged the Modi government with trying to topple Opposition governments after realising that it cannot win elections (as seen in Bihar and Delhi).

Accusing the BJP of dismantling democratic institutions set up over the last 60 years — be it trampling upon democratically-elected governments like Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, Mr Singh said: “In Uttarakhand, they have short-circuited democracy”