A look at Puducherry Assembly math ahead of floor test

With two resignations on the eve of the floor test, the Narayanasamy-led government is scrambling to prove its majority in the House

The V Narayanasamy-led Congress government in Puducherry will be put to the test in front of Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to prove its majority in the Assembly today.

Putting Congress in a fix, Congress’s K Lakshminarayanan and DMK’s Venkatesan resigned from the party on the eve of the trust vote. The Narayanasamy-led government now has 12 MLAs, including the Speaker, while the Opposition has 14 in the 33-member House.

Numbers in Puducherry Assembly

The Puducherry Assembly elects 30 members and nominates 3 members. With seven resignations, the effective strength of the House is 26, which includes three nominated members who are in BJP. After the resignations yesterday, the simple majority figure is 14.

The Congress has nine MLAs in the Assembly, one of which is Speaker S P Sivakolundhi, who cannot vote unless there is a tie. Two DMK MLAs and one Independent MLA have expressed their support to the party.

The Opposition has seven MLAs, and the support of four AIADMK members. The nominated BJP members will also support the Opposition, bringing their tally to 14.

Read | Two more MLAs quit in Puducherry; govt's strength drops to 11

These numbers indicate that the Congress government is likely to fall short of the majority it needs, with all ruling MLAs present in the test.

Narayanasamy has been battling rebellion from within for the past few months with five legislators from Congress resigning since last month. A Namassivayam, Malladi Krishna Rao, E Theepainathan, A Johnkumar, and K Lakshminarayanan resigned expressing displeasure at Narayanasamy's style of functioning.

Floor test: Possible outcomes

The V Narayanasamy-led government in the union territory faces a tough challenge to prove its majority in the floor test today. DMK leader K Venkatesan said even if the Speaker votes, there is no chance for the ruling government to get a majority.

It is possible that the government may resign on its own, or get a recommendation to do so from the LG’s office or the Centre. But Narayanasamy has refused to resign, saying that he wants to incite the BJP to sack him, so he could gain sympathy in the upcoming elections in the union territory.

Sources told Indian Express that the government has evidence that the three Opposition MLAs are trying to influence the ruling MLAs and overturn the government. In this case, the Speaker can expel said MLAs even before the floor test. The LG may also take a decision to dissolve the government and thus, the Centre would take a direct control of the Union Territory.