It began on March 18. Nine Congress and 27 BJP MLAs met Uttarakhand Governor K.K. Paul and apprised him of the political solution of the state demanding the dismissals of Chief Minister Harish Rawat-led Congress government.
The rebellion of the Congress MLAs did not go down well with the party bosses and they were expelled. One of the rebels, Saket Bahuguna, is the son of former Uttarakhand chief minister and Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna.
This was the political makeup of the Uttarakhand assembly before the March 18 fracas.
Congress: 36 MLAs
Congress allies: Progressive Democratic Front – 6 MLAs
Opposition BJP: 28 MLAs
On March 20, the Governor gave time till March 28 to Harish Rawat for proving majority in a floor test.
On March 27, President’s Rule was imposed in Uttarakhand.
On March 28, the rule was challenged in the High Court.
In April, the High Court ruled against the imposition of the President’s Rule but the Supreme Court intervened and put a stay on the HC order.
SC extends stay on implementation of Uttarakhand HC decision quashing President Rule in State till further orders. pic.twitter.com/wBmPuHEYTQ
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) May 4, 2016
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President rule in #Uttarakhand: Supreme Court asks 7 questions, seeks Centre’s reply https://t.co/FSBnmVMkBH pic.twitter.com/1kYNx0mc23
— Swachh Politics (@SwachhPolitics) April 27, 2016
Finally, on May 10, the floor test of Harish Rawat was held. The President’s Rule was lifted for this floor test. Nine rebel Congress members were not allowed to vote bringing down the strength of the Assembly to 61.
Reports say that Rawat is most likely to prevail as the chief minister of Uttarakhand. He needed 31 votes but got 34.
33 members who were on our side cast their votes.Want to thank PDF,BSP,UKD: Indira Hridayesh,Cong after floor test pic.twitter.com/KuPwsZajcm
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 10, 2016
Two of those votes came from the two MLAs of Mayawati’s BSP. The results will be made official after they are presented in the Supreme Court on May 11.
Uttarakhand floor test outcome is a huge setback to Modi Govt. Hope they will stop toppling Govts now
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 10, 2016
That would bring to a close the two-month long political drama in which the Congress claimed that the BJP was indulging in a targeted political campaign to remove every Congress-led state government in the country.
The BJP had requested for President’s Rule based on a sting operation video in which Rawat was allegedly shown bribing the rebels from his party.
Congress had expelled its rebels in March itself.
