Puducherry Lt Guv orders assembly floor test on Feb 22

The strength of both the ruling and opposition camps stand at 14 in the 33-member house, including three nominated legislators of the BJP

Hours after assuming charge, Puducherry Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday directed Chief Minister V Narayanasamy to prove his majority on the floor of the assembly on February 22, following resignation of four Congress MLAs in the past few weeks.

Soundararajan, the Telangana Governor who assumed additional charge and was sworn-in as Lt. Governor on Thursday morning, received a delegation from the Opposition in the afternoon. A few hours later, the L-G Secretariat issued a detailed statement announcing that Soundararajan has directed Narayanasamy to prove his majority by 5 pm on February 22.

The direction came after the Opposition parties – N R Congress, AIADMK, and BJP, which has three nominated members in the House – demanded that a floor test be ordered contending that Narayanasamy has lost majority. Taking the three nominated members into account, the strength of the assembly is 33, and with the resignation of four MLAs, and one being disqualified, the ruling and Opposition are on par with 14 seats each.

Watch: Blaming BJP for political crisis, Puducherry CM says will ‘prove majority’

Most likely, the UT might go in for a brief spell of President's rule if Narayanasamy is not able to prove his majority.

“The session of the Legislative Assembly shall be summoned on Monday, February 22, 2021. The meeting to be convened in pursuance of (i) above shall be confined to a single agenda, namely whether the government of the incumbent Chief Minister continues to enjoy the confidence of the House,” the L-G Secretariat said in a statement.

It further said Soundararajan has ordered that the majority will be decided in the form of “show of hands”, and video graphing of the entire proceedings. “The floor test shall be concluded by 5.00 pm on 22.02.2021 and the proceedings shall not be adjourned/delayed or suspended at any cost,” the statement said.

It would be a herculean task for Narayanasamy to prove his majority, leaving things wide open. Two of the four MLAs who had quit Congress have joined the BJP, giving strength to the party that has hardly any base in the Union Territory. The MLAs blamed Narayanasamy's "unilateral" functioning for their decision.

Tamilisai was given additional charge following removal of Bedi, who has had a running battle with Narayanasamy for about five years.