The 15-month-old Congress government fell when Kamal Nath resigned on March 20 before facing the Supreme Court-mandated trust vote
The Supreme Court Monday upheld Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon’s decision to ask former CM Kamal Nath to prove his government’s majority on the floor of the House.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi recalled facts which led to the Governor calling for a floor test and said that “based on the resignation of six ministers of the incumbent government (accepted by the Speaker), the purported resignation of 16 more Members belonging to the INC, and the refusal of the Chief Minister to conduct a floor test despite the House having been convened on March 16, the exercise of power by the Governor to convene a floor test cannot be regarded as constitutionally improper”.
The court said that the power under Article 174 of the Constitution to summon the House and to prorogue it is exercised by the Governor upon the advice of the Council of Ministers, “but in a situation where the Governor has reasons to believe that the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister has lost the confidence of the House, constitutional propriety requires that the issue be resolved by calling for a floor test”.