Context:
A floor Test will be conducted in the Jharkhand Assembly on 5 February
Floor Test Floor Test in Assembly
- A floor test is a confidence motion for or against the government in-house.
- It is a constitutional mechanism under which a Chief Minister appointed by the Governor can be asked to prove majority on the floor of the Legislative Assembly of the state when this majority is questioned.
- Objective: To see if the executive enjoys the confidence of the legislature.
- Presided by: The majority is proved by undergoing a trust vote on the floor of the house presided by the Speaker.
- Resignation: If the leader fails to gain the confidence of the house he/she is bound to resign from the position, thereby leading to the dissolution of the entire Council of Ministers.
- Exception: Floor test cannot be used as a medium to resolve internal party disputes or intra-party disputes said the Supreme Court in a judgement of 2023 against governor of Maharashtra to call for a Floor test
- Process: The majority is counted based on the number of people present and voting and it does not include the people who are absent and not voting.
- Governor’s Role:
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- Article 174: The Governor has the power to prorogue, summon, and dissolve the legislature of a state.
- Article 163: There shall be Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions except in so far as he is by or under the Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion
- Supreme court judgements on Floor Test: In SR Bommai case (1994) and Nabam Rebia case (2015) the court said that when the Governor has objective reasons to believe that the incumbent government does not command the confidence of the house, his call for a floor test in his discretion cannot be termed as constitutional violation.
Voting in Floor Test
- Ballot vote: It is secret voting in a ballot box. This system is similar to voting in elections of the Parliament.
- Voice vote: In this method, oral votes are taken by the present legislatures.
- Division vote: Voting in this method is done through electronic gadgets or slips vote.
Composite Floor Test
- In case of a hung assembly with no clear majority to any one party more than one person is claiming to form the government and the majority is not clear, the Governor may call for a special session to see who has the majority. In case of a tie, the Speaker casts his vote.
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Also Read: Interim Budget 2024-2025
News source: The Hindu
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February 5, 2024