A day after taking oath, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday won a trust vote in the State Assembly with 131 legislators supporting him while 108 voted against.
Participating in the debate, Mr. Kumar reiterated that he took the decision to part ways with the Grand Alliance government “in the interest of Bihar and for its development.”
Leader of Opposition Tejaswi Yadav, however, said the new alliance between the JD(U) and BJP was “murder of democracy”.
At the one-day special Assembly session, Mr. Tejaswi Yadav’s demand for voting through secret ballot was turned down by Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who proposed a voice vote to decide the confidence motion moved by the Nitish Kumar government.
When it was not decided through voice vote, the Speaker later opted for a lobby division in which legislators put their signatures individually on a register to cast their vote — for or against the motion.
In a few moments, it was announced by the Speaker that 131 MLAs supported the trust vote while 108 opposed it. Four MLAs, including the Speaker, couldn’t cast their vote. The total strength of Bihar assembly is 243.
People insulted
Earlier in the debate ahead of the vote, Mr. Tejaswi Yadav charged Mr. Kumar with “betraying the mandate of the people of Bihar given for the Grand Alliance government in 2015”.
“The people of Bihar had given a mandate for the grand alliance government in last assembly elections and not for the BJP to govern…It’s an insult of that mandate…it’s a murder of democracy,” Mr Yadav said.
In his 45 minute speech, he took on both the Chief Minister and his new deputy in the cabinet Sushil Kumar Modi for their “unholy alliance.”