Bihar Floor Test: Nitish government passes floor test, 129 votes in favor, 125 MLAs were with RJD to remove speaker

Monday is the day of the floor test of the Nitish Kumar government in the Bihar Assembly. The RJD is the single largest party with  79  seats in the  243-member Bihar Assembly. After this, BJP has  78  MLAs, JDU 45, Congress 19, CPI  (ML)  12, HAM 04, CPI 02, CPI 02, CPIM 02 MLAs. The AIMIM has one MLA and one Independent MLA.

Monday is a very important day for the politics of Bihar. The Nitish Kumar-led government has to go through a majority test in the Bihar Assembly. Recently, JDU separated from the alliance and joined the NDA. With this, Nitish Kumar once again became the Chief Minister. 

Since the collapse of the coalition government, all the leaders in the state have been claiming to be ‘khela’. Apart from this, there were talks of MLAs from both the ruling party and the opposition side not attending the meetings. A no-confidence motion came against the Speaker before the floor test on Monday. There was a lot of uproar during this.  The ruling party made a dent in the RJD camp,  while the ruling party also got a dent.

Among the RJD MLAs who did not reach the Bihar Assembly are Sheohar MLA Chetan Anand and Mokama MLA Neelam Devi. At the same time, Parbatta MLA Dr. Sanjeev, Dilip Rai, and Rupauli MLA Bima Bharti from JDU have not been able to reach the NDA.  Also, BJP MLA Mishrilal Yadav has not reached the Bihar Assembly.

First, know when and why Nitish resigned from the coalition government.

Till last month, there was a grand alliance government in Bihar. This government included JDU, RJD, Congress, and Left parties.  On January  28, the picture of Bihar’s politics changed once again when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigned from the Mahagathbandhan government.

Nitish Kumar met Governor Rajendra Arlekar and submitted his resignation. After this, he said in a conversation with the media, ‘We have resigned. The government that was in place,  wrote to the Governor to end it. It wasn’t going well here, we’ll decide with the old alliance. ‘

What happened in Bihar after Nitish’s resignation?

On January 28, Nitish Kumar submitted a letter of support to the governor. After this, it became clear that Nitish Kumar would once again form a government in Bihar with the support of the BJP. In the Assembly, BJP has 78 MLAs, JD(U) 45 and HAM four. Apart from this, an independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh also supported the NDA.  In the  243-member  Assembly, the tally comes to 128 with the three parties and one independent together,  six more than the majority mark of  122.                                                                                                      

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s trust vote was passed in the Bihar Assembly with the support of  129  MLAs, first by voice vote and later by vote. During Nitish’s speech just before voting, the opposition members walked out of the House. According to the parties, the government had the support of 128 MLAs but it got 129  votes.

Three RJD MLAs Chetan Anand, Prahlad Yadav, and Neelam Devi had gone in support of Nitish. Significantly, during the voting on the no-confidence motion against RJD Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, only  125  MLAs stood with the government. By the time the government voted on the floor test, this number had increased to 129.

In the voting on the motion to remove the speaker,  125  MLAs voted in support of the government, while 112 MLAs remained with the opposition. Sources say that JD(U) MLA Dilip Rai from the ruling party did not vote for the floor test while Maheshwar Hazari was running the House.  The ruling party got 126 votes and three RJD got a  total of  129  votes. It was also clear that the MLAs of the ruling party remained with the government.

With  125  MLAs standing with the government in removing the speaker, it was clear that Nitish has a majority and the division of votes after the debate on the government’s trust vote is a formality. Chaudhary started the operation of the assembly and after informing him of the notice of no-confidence motion against him, the task of running was handed over to Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari. During the debate, leaders of opposition parties, including RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, launched a scathing attack on Nitish, while in response, Vijay Chaudhary, Vijay Sinha, and Samrat Chaudhary reminded Nitish of the era of RJD governments before Nitish and the allegations of corruption on the Lalu Yadav family.

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Nitish played Game with Tejashwi

The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar won the trust vote in the assembly on Monday. The government got  129  votes in favor. Opposition members staged a walkout during voting in the House. Not a single vote was cast against the government as the opposition staged a walkout.

Before the floor test, a resolution was passed to remove RJD leader Awadh Bihari Chaudhary from the post of Speaker. The no-confidence motion moved by the NDA against the Speaker got the support of 125  MLAs in the  243-member Assembly, while 112 members voted against it. Earlier, Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari, who was sitting on the Speaker’s chair, wanted the no-confidence motion to be passed by voice vote,  but after opposition from RJD, he agreed to count the number.

Let us tell you that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD),  which lost power in Bihar, suffered a setback on Monday when three of its members sat with the MLAs of the ruling party in the Bihar Assembly. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav raised a point of order while objecting to party MLAs Chetan Anand, Neelam Devi, and Prahlad Yadav sitting among the ruling NDA members before voting on the no-confidence motion against Assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary. However, Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari, who was present in the chair, did not give any decision on the point of order.

opposition walkout including Tejashwi Yadav 

“I have always considered Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a father figure and he does not know what forced him to leave the grand alliance and return to the BJP-led NDA,” RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said during the debate on the trust motion moved by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in the Assembly. Tejashwi also took a dig at the chief minister for taking oath for a record ninth time and for the third time within a five-year term, saying such an example had never been seen before.

“I always treated Nitish Kumar like  ‘Dashrath’. I do not know why he was forced to betray the alliance. He said that the BJP was scared of the alliance government in Bihar. “Can Prime Minister Narendra Modi guarantee that Nitish Kumar will not turn around again?” he asked.

The opposition boycotted the House before voting on the trust vote of the Nitish government. After this, at the behest of Chief Minister Nitish, Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari asked the MLAs to stand in favor and got them counted. The government got  129  votes in support. At the time of the removal of the Speaker,  only 125 votes were cast in favor of the government. During the voting on the trust vote,  4 more votes increased in favor of the government.

Earlier, the tug of war of political parties was going on for the last two days regarding the floor test. Amid fears of a split in the party, from BJP to RJD and from Congress to JDU, they had shifted their MLAs to one place. So that any kind of breakdown of legislators can be avoided. The Congress had shifted its MLAs to Hyderabad several days ago. And then on Sunday evening, all returned to Patna.

At the same time, all BJP MLAs from Bodh Gaya came to Patna on Sunday night. From where he was shifted to a hotel. All the RJD MLAs stayed at Tejaswi Yadav’s residence. And from there he reached the assembly directly. Nitish’s party JDU MLAs were staying in Hotel Chanakya. And then all had reached the assembly together.

RJD and Congress leaders kept claiming to have played the game. Some RJD leaders showed the victory sign and even said that the Nitish government was a guest for a few hours. But Tejashwi’s party RJD suffered a setback then. When 3  MLAs of his party were seen sitting with the ruling party before voting. And voted in favor of the Nitish government.

No-confidence motion against the Assembly Speaker breaks between both sides

A no-confidence motion came against the Speaker before the floor test on Monday. During this, three RJD MLAs changed sides and voted in favor of the no-confidence motion. The MLAs include Neelam Devi, wife of Bahubali Anant Singh and Mokama MLA, Chetan Anand, son of Bahubali Anand Mohan, and RJD MLA Prahlad Yadav from Suryagarha in Lakhisarai district.

At the same time,  the ruling party also suffered a setback in this test before the majority. After the number of members in the House and the change of three RJD MLAs, the ruling party should have the support of  131  MLAs according to the strength. If the deputy speaker does not vote, this number is  130. However,  only  125  MLAs voted in favor of the no-confidence motion.

At the same time, during the no-confidence motion against the Speaker, the opposition had the support of   114 MLAs. The number came down to  111  after three MLAs switched sides. Even after this, 112 MLAs voted in favor of the no-confidence motion. It is believed that one additional vote is that of an AIMIM MLA. Five MLAs were not present in the House.

Three  RJD MLAs join JDU camp

Let us know that before the floor test, the whirlwind in the politics of the state has ended with the confidence motion of the Nitish government. Earlier, many leaders of his party, including former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, were constantly claiming that the floor test would have been played on the day. But this bet of RJD backfired. Three of its MLAs Neelam Devi, Prahlad Yadav, and Chetan Yadav have joined the JDU camp.

What Nitish Kumar Said During Floor Test

In the Assembly, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that we have come to our old place, but will not harm anyone. Development work will continue in Bihar. Will continue to work in the interest of the state. Now we have come here and will stay here. We will take everyone along.

“Before 2005, people were afraid to step out of their homes in the evening. Now women also come out of the houses without fear at night. Women are studying today. Where did women study before? We have worked relentlessly. We are not against anybody. We will investigate every discrepancy.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said in the Assembly that since  2005, when we got the opportunity to work, we have been continuously working for the public. Since then, how much development has been done in Bihar, is visible. Earlier, his (Tejashwi Yadav) father and mother ruled for 15  years, what was the atmosphere then… People were afraid to step out in the evening.

Tejashwi Yadav attacks Nitish Kumar

During the discussion on the NDA’s floor test, former Deputy  Chief Minister of Bihar and  RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, “First of all we want to thank Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for creating history by taking oath as Chief Minister for  9  consecutive times.  He took oath 9 times but in the same term, he has taken oath three times. We have never seen such an amazing sight before. “

During the discussion on the floor test, former Bihar Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav targeted CM Nitish Kumar fiercely. “First of all, we want to thank Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for creating history by taking oath as Chief Minister for  9  consecutive terms. He took oath 9 times but in the same term, he has taken oath three times. We have never seen such an amazing sight before.

“The chief minister was, is, and will always be respected by us… Many times Chief Minister Nitish Kumar kept telling us that you are like our son… We also consider Nitish Kumar as a father like King Dashrath… It must have been their compulsion like King Dasharatha that Lord Rama was sent to exile. However, we do not consider it exile. He (Nitish Kumar) has sent us among the people to become a partner in their happiness and sorrow. I don’t know for what reasons they had to leave the ‘Mahagathbandhan   ‘

Tejashwi Yadav further said, “…You (Nitish Kumar) had said that we have only one goal neither to become Prime Minister nor to become Chief Minister. The dictator who is united by uniting the opposition across the country should not be allowed to come again… When you came out of the Governor House, you (Nitish Kumar) said  ‘I didn’t feel like it’. I didn’t feel like it, so we’re a little too much to dance and sing… We have made possible the work that you used to say, which is impossible. “

What was the Formula of Seats?

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar comprises Nitish Kumar’s  JDU, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S), and an independent MLA. The ruling coalition has 128 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, six more than the majority mark. At the same time, the opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ has 114  MLAs, including MLAs from   RJD,  Congress and 3 Left parties. Out of 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly,  JDU has 45 MLAs. Whereas,  the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 79 MLAs.

At the same time, its coalition partner HAM-S has 4 MLAs. Apart from this, the  NDA has the support of an independent. In this way, the total number of NDA  MLAs in the  243-member assembly is  128. Talking about the opposition camp, the grand alliance of  RJD, Congress, and three Left parties has 114 MLAs, which is  8  short of majority. To achieve the majority figure, the coalition needed  122 MLAs.

Conclusion By aAditri Digital

The floor test in the Bihar Assembly has concluded with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s government securing a majority, albeit with some dramatic twists. Nitish Kumar’s resignation from the Grand Alliance government and subsequent realignment with the NDA set the stage for a high-stakes political showdown. Despite opposition claims of disrupting the government, Nitish Kumar’s trust vote passed comfortably with 129 votes in favor. The opposition’s boycott and subsequent walkout further solidified Nitish’s position.

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However, the floor test wasn’t without surprises. Three RJD MLAs crossing over to support Nitish Kumar’s government and voting in favor of the no-confidence motion against the Speaker reshaped the political landscape. Tejashwi Yadav’s poignant remarks during the debate highlighted the complex dynamics of Bihar politics, referencing Nitish Kumar’s multiple oath-takings and the alliance’s unraveling.

The outcome underscores Nitish Kumar’s resilience and political maneuvering, securing his government’s stability amid shifting alliances. Despite the opposition’s spirited rhetoric, the NDA’s strategic calculations ensured victory. As Bihar moves forward, Nitish Kumar’s commitment to development and coalition politics will continue to shape the state’s trajectory, albeit amidst ongoing political turbulence and challenges.