Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa had a walkover today in the trial of strength when he won the Trust Vote in the Assembly by a margin of six votes. In all, 106 members voted in favour of the Confidence Motion moved by the Chief Minister and 100 members voted against it. This is the second Trust Vote Yeddyurappa faced within three days. Even on October 11 the Speaker had announced that the motion was passed 106 to 0 through voice vote.

In order to avoid confusion and controversy as well as on the demand of the Leader of Opposition Siddharamaiah, the Speaker K. G. Bopaiah ordered for a head count.

While taking the head count, the Speaker ordered that all doors of the House be closed as a precautionary measure, to prevent anyone getting out or entering the House when the counting was in progress. The entire proceedings concluded in 34 minutes when the Speaker announced the votes polled in favour and against the Motion at 11. 34 am.

Soon after announcing the result, the Speaker adjourned the House sine die.

The special session of the Assembly began at 11 am. The CM moved a one-line motion which said, "This House expresses its confidence in the Cabinet headed by B. S. Yeddyurappa." Before the Chief Minister moved the motion, Siddharamaiah appealed to the Speaker to postpone the Trust Vote, as the case of 11 BJP and 5 Independent MLAs, who have been disqualified, was pending before the High Court.

Final Verdict:
"As the High Court yesterday ruled that the Trust Vote would be subject to the final verdict of the Court, the House may have to take up the Trust Vote again or may not, based on the verdict," he argued, saying that the Trust Vote should be taken up after the verdict. Referring to the Trust Vote proceedings held on October 11, Siddharamaiah said the Opposition wanted to participate in the proceedings but had to protest as the Police in uniforms armed with weapons, entered the House. "It was a breach of privilege," he countered. "The rights of 16 MLAs, who have been disqualified, has been infringed. In my opinion, they have been deprived of participating in the proceedings," he said.

Marshals:
There were some lighter moments when four Marshals came and stood near Siddharamaiah when he began his speech. "Don't worry; we are not going to create trouble. Even if they (BJP) create trouble, we will not," Siddharamaiah told the Marshals in a lighter vein.
Rejecting the appeal to postpone the proceedings, Speaker put the motion to Voice Vote. He announced that there will be head counts of both those who say “Yes” and those who say “No”.

Head count:
The head count process, conducted row - wise, was held between 11.10 am and 11.34 am. An official went row by row, counting the MLAs who said “Yes” or “No”. Members stood up when the Speaker advised them to do so to facilitate counting.

Varthur Prakash votes:
M. C. Ashwath (JD - S) and Manappa Vajjal (BJP) of Lingasagur did not participate. Independent member Varthur Prakash voted in favour of the government taking the ruling party's strength to 106. Today's Trust Vote proceeding was conducted as the Governor had instructed the CM to prove his majority again as the proceedings on October 11 were not proper.

CM's claim:
After the House was adjourned, the CM claimed that he need not seek Trust Vote for another six months. According to political analysis, there will not be a threat to the govt. even if the case in the HC is decided in favour of Independents (on the ground that Independents do not come under the jurisdiction of Anti - Defection Law). During the trial of strength, even if they vote against the government, the strength of the Opposition will be 105. The government will be in real trouble if the case is decided in favour of the 11 disqualified BJP MLAs.

Why CM obeyed?
Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa today said that he obeyed the Governor’s instruction to prove majority for the second time in order to avoid constitutional crisis.

Talking to media after winning Trust Vote, he said his party high command had advised him not to have confrontation with the Constitutional authority. "It is a black spot on the history of Karnataka that for the first time in the country, a CM has been asked to prove majority for the second time," he added.

Courtesy: Star of Mysore

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