The Hindu : Front Page : Munda wins confidence vote

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Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005

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Munda wins confidence vote

By Venkitesh Ramakrishnan

SMILE AFTER STRIFE: Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda being congratulated by State BJP leaders after he won the trust vote in Ranchi on Tuesday. — AP

RANCHI, MARCH 15. The Arjun Munda-led National Democratic Alliance Ministry demonstrated a majority in the Jharkhand Assembly today amid pandemonium on issues of procedure and the election of the Speaker. The majority was declared by the Speaker, Inder Singh Namdhari, through a head count of the legislators on the treasury benches. This was promptly contested by the Opposition.

After the head count, the Speaker announced that the procedure had established the support of 40 legislators to the motion of confidence in the Ministry whereas there were only 37 MLAs of the Opposition United Progressive Alliance in the Assembly. The head count was confined to the NDA members as almost all the UPA MLAs were in the well of the Assembly raising slogans against the manner in which the Speaker was elected. Mr. Namdhari later told journalists that he had arrived at the number of UPA MLAs by verifying the attendance register.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Namdhari further clarified the trust vote procedure. According to him the "trust vote has not merely shown that the NDA is superior to the UPA in numbers, but has a clear majority." Mr. Namdhari's contention is that, along with him, the NDA has the support of 41 MLAs in the 81-member Assembly and has thus crossed the half-way mark. The Chief Minister, Mr. Arjun Munda, told journalists that with the nomination of an Anglo-Indian member, the NDA's support would go up further in the Assembly.

The UPA condemned the entire process as "unconstitutional and undemocratic." The Opposition leaders, including the unseated Deputy Chief Minister, Stephen Marandi, and the UPA's Speaker candidate, Annapoorna Devi, claimed that all their 39 MLAs were present in the Assembly, though one member, Joba Manjhi, had come in late. A UPA delegation led by Mr. Marandi met the Governor, Syed Sibtey Razi, later in the day seeking his intervention to "re-establish democratic systems in the conduct of the Assembly and cancel the fraudulent trust vote obtained by the Arjun Munda Government."

Unruly scenes

The conduct of the House on Tuesday was as unruly as it was on March 11, when the Shibu Soren-led UPA Government — which resigned later — was scheduled to undergo a floor test. But there was also one striking difference in the proceedings. The Assembly had failed to carry out its agenda because of repeated interruptions on March 11, but on Tuesday it went through its scheduled tasks, one after another in less than half an hour. The election of the Speaker as well as the passage of the motion of confidence were all completed in a matter of 36 minutes, which included an adjournment of 12 minutes.

The commotion in the Assembly started even as the pro tem Speaker, Karia Munda, initiated the proceedings for the election of Speaker. Mr. Marandi drew the pro tem Speaker's attention to two members — Enos Ekka of the Jharkhand Party and Kamlesh Kumar Singh of the NCP — and argued that both MLAs were under a whip from their party leadership to oppose the NDA. Mr. Kumar Singh had not attended the Assembly and had not even taken his oath as MLA as he was, self-professedly, unwell and was hospitalised. Mr. Ekka, who is already a Minister in the Munda Government, was sitting on the treasury benches with NDA members. Mr. Marandi claimed that the members were violating their parties' whip and hence had to be disqualified as MLAs. He further contended that the Speaker's election could take place only after the fate of these two MLAs was decided. The pro tem Speaker stated that he had no powers to decide on issues of defection, as his role was only to complete the swearing-in of MLAs. The UPA members immediately started raising slogans and rushed to the well of the House. Amid this bedlam, the pro tem Speaker took a voice vote on the Speaker's election and declared that Mr. Namdhari had been elected.

The UPA members became more aggressive as Mr. Namdhari took the Speaker's chair; they overturned chairs and tables.

The new Speaker adjourned the Assembly immediately after assuming his chair. Resuming after 12 minutes, Mr. Namdhari took up the motion of confidence even as the slogan shouting of UPA MLAs rose to a crescendo.

He took less than three minutes to put the motion to a voice vote and then conduct a head count. Immediately after the announcement of the head count, the Speaker adjourned the House sine die.

PTI reports from Ranchi:

The BJP-led NDA Government today recommended the name of Joseph P. Gaulstone, as the Anglo-Indian nominee for the Jharkhand Assembly.

Briefing the media after a Cabinet meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister, Arjun Munda, the Cabinet Secretary, Aditya Swaroop, said Mr. Gaulstone's name would be forwarded to the Governor, Syed Sibtey Razi, for approval.

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