MP political crisis: Floor-test to be conducted today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday directed the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker N P Prajapati to convene a special session on Friday for conducting the floor test which must conclude by 5pm.

A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud also ordered video recording and possible live streaming of the Assembly proceedings when the Kamal Nath led Congress government would undertake the floor test.

The bench, also comprising Justice Hemant Gupta, directed the police chiefs of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka to provide security to the 16 rebel Congress MLAs if they choose to appear in Assembly for trust vote.

The bench also ordered that the Assembly will have a single point agenda of the floor test and no hindrance is to be created for anyone.

It asked the state Assembly secretary to ensure that there is no breach of law and order.

After the speaker accepted the resignation of six Congress MLAs on Saturday, the party now has 108 legislators.

These include 16 rebel legislators who have also put in their papers but their resignations are yet to be accepted.

The BJP has 107 seats in the House, which now has an effective strength of 222, with the majority mark being 112.

Before the rebellion, the Congress's tally was 114. It also had the support of four Independent MLAs, two legislators from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one from the Samajwadi Party (SP).