With Disqualification Of 14 Rebel Karnataka MLAs, Strength Comes Down To 208; It's Advantage BJP

Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa, who was sworn in as the chief minister for the fourth time on Friday, has the support of 105 members, including an independent.

Outlook Web Bureau

Updated on: 28 July 2019 3:52 pm

With the disqualification of 14 Congress-JD(S) legislators on Sunday, the effective strength, including Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, of the Karnataka Assembly has come down to 208, handing an advantage to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Three other lawmakers were disqualified by Speaker Kumar on July 25.

Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa, who was sworn in as the chief minister for the fourth time on Friday, has the support of 105 members, including an independent. The Congress party has 66 MLAs, followed by JD(S) with 35.

The BSP also has a legislator in the Assembly who had abstained from voting during the trust vote moved by former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.

For any party to prove its majority, the half-way mark has come down from 113 and 104, a clear advantage to the BJP.

Besides BSP's N Mahesh, B Nagendra from Congress had abstained from voting in the confidence motion.

If both the legislators skip the floor test on Monday, it will be still an advantage for BJP since the party already has the required number to prove the majority on the floor of the House.

The Speaker will vote only in the case of a tie.

The Speaker on Sunday disqualified 14 rebel Congress MLAs. The disqualified legislators include -- Pratap Gowda Patil, BC Patil, Shivanand Hebbar, ST Somashekar, Shrimant Patil, BA Basavaraja, Anand Singh, R Roshan Baig, Muniratna, K Sudhakar and MTB Nagaraj.

The three disqualified MLAs from JD(S) are AH Vishwanath, Narayan Gowda and Gopalaiah.

On Thursday, three rebel Congress MLAs -- R Shankar, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli were disqualified by the Speaker.

All the disqualified MLAs cannot contest elections until the expiry of the term of the 15th Legislative Assembly.

Earlier this month, the rebel MLAs withdrew their support to the Congress-JD(S) coalition, plunging the government into a minority in the 225-member Assembly, leading to the political crisis in the state.

After days of high-drama and heated debates, the government fell on Tuesday after it lost the trust vote in the House. Following the defeat, Kumaraswamy submitted his resignation to Governor Vajubhai Vala at Raj Bhavan, along with his cabinet ministers.

(With inputs from agencies)