The Hindu : National : Hooda wins vote of confidence

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National

Hooda wins vote of confidence

Rajesh Ahuja

– PHOTO: AKHILESH KUMAR

After the vote: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is all smiles after winning the vote of confidence in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

CHANDIGARH: The new Congress regime in Haryana headed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday won with ease the crucial vote of confidence on the floor of the House without any “discussion” on the motion. The Congress procured 47 votes in its favour. The House was later adjourned sine die.

The Congress, which had won 40 out of the 90 Assembly seats in the recent elections, was six short of a simple majority but it had claimed the support of seven newly-elected Independent MLAs and a lone Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, whereupon State Governor Jagannath Pahadia had asked Mr. Hooda this past Sunday to secure a vote of confidence in the House on or before October 31.

Interestingly, with former Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal retaining the Uchana Kalan seat and relinquishing the Ellenabad seat that he had also won in the election, the total strength of the 90-member House stands technically reduced to 89. Also, with the unanimous appointment of the Congress MLA from Pehowa, Harmohinder Singh Chatha, as the Speaker of the new Vidhan Sabha, the effective strength of the House has been further reduced to 88 and that of the Congress to 39 as the Speaker does not vote.

The motion “expressing confidence in the Council of Ministers” was moved by Mr. Hooda after Mr. Pahadia delivered the customary Governor’s Address. Mr. Chautala was given an opportunity by the Speaker to open the discussion but there were heated exchanges between him and the Treasury Benches as he questioned the “basic status” of the Hooda regime and repeatedly charged that the Congress did not have the mandate of the people.

The Speaker expunged the remarks made by Mr. Chautala about the status of the Government and asserted that the agenda was simple: to decide whether the new Government enjoyed confidence or not.

Anil Vij of the BJP also demanded that the session be extended so that a full discussion could take place on the motion of confidence.

However, Mr. Hooda made it clear that the Congress had emerged as the single largest party with 40 seats while the INLD and its ally Akali Dal had won only 32 (31 if one took into account the Ellenabad seat). He said Mr. Chautala was raising extraneous issues and the matter could be decided in a minute through voting.

Interestingly, the six MLAs of Haryana Janhit Congress of the Bhajan Lal clan including their leader Kuldeep Bishnoi were not present in the House during the election of the Speaker, the Governor’s Address and the voting on the motion of confidence. The talk in political circles here was that the HJC “abstained” as a matter of “favour” to the Congress.

The Speaker opted for a voice vote and on the basis of the “ayes” declared the motion carried.

In the first half of the session earlier in the day, pro-tem Speaker Ajay Singh Yadav administered the oath to the 89 new members one by one. This was followed by Mr. Chatha’s unanimous election as the Speaker.

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