TN assembly set to witness first trust vote in nearly 30 years, speaker’s decision on type of voting to matter

  • | Friday | 17th February, 2017

CHENNAI: After nearly 30 years, the Tamil Nadu assembly will face a trust vote on Saturday to decide the fate of the Edappadi K Palaniswami government.The group led by Palaniswami is confident of winning the trust vote as it claims to have 124 MLAs on its side. The Congress, which has eight MLAs, has left its decision on voting to the high command. "Secret ballot may make the difference between Palaniswami and Panneerselvam. The rebel group has demanded secret ballot as it feels some party MLAs in Koovathur resort are likely switch loyalty," said a senior rebel group leader.The magic figure that would decide Palaniswami's fate is 117. A total of 101 MLAs, including those of the DMK and the IUML and 11 from the OPS group, have decided to vote against the confidence motion.

CHENNAI: After nearly 30 years, the Tamil Nadu assembly will face a trust vote on Saturday to decide the fate of the Edappadi K Palaniswami government.The group led by Palaniswami is confident of winning the trust vote as it claims to have 124 MLAs on its side. If this is true, the government may scrape through the trust vote as the combined vote of the opposition and AIADMK rebels led by former chief minister O Panneerselvam may not be able to cobble up the party general secretary VK Sasikala faction.All eyes are on Speaker P Dhanapal on the type of voting he prefers. "Secret ballot may make the difference between Palaniswami and Panneerselvam. The rebel group has demanded secret ballot as it feels some party MLAs in Koovathur resort are likely switch loyalty," said a senior rebel group leader.The magic figure that would decide Palaniswami's fate is 117. A senior functionary of the Sasikala faction of AIADMK said, "Chinnamma, before her incarceration, and later on her relatives TTV Dinakaran and Palaniswami, who have been readmitted in the party, have done everything required to keep the flock together. Palaniswami's victory is a foregone conclusion."However, the opposition has ganged up against the Sasikala faction. A total of 101 MLAs, including those of the DMK and the IUML and 11 from the OPS group, have decided to vote against the confidence motion. The Congress, which has eight MLAs, has left its decision on voting to the high command. The party's decision would be known at 9am on Saturday.It is only the AIADMK rebels led by Panneerselvam who may make the difference finally.The Sasikala faction is doing all that needs to be done to keep the flock together. Palaniswami has kept four slots vacant in his cabinet (present strength is 31) to accommodate still demanding MLAs.His worry is that there are 19 claimants for those additional ministerial berths. About four to five MLAs can be accommodated as chairmen of various boards. Still, many will be left out, which could continue to give him trouble in the months to come if the margin remains wafer-thin.More than the number of MLAs supporting the government, what is significant is the number of people opposing it. "As per our Constitution, the majority in the assembly need not support the government. The government only needs to ensure that the majority is not against it. So if some members abstain from voting, a government can win confidence vote without crossing the 50% strength of the assembly," said former Lok Sabha secretary general, Subhash C Kashyap.The biggest challenge for a minority government is passing money bills. "Rules are clear that if the government fails to pass budget, it will have to resign. Problems can arise at times of pushing major policy bills also and going by convention, if the government fails in such bills, it has to step down," said Kashyap.

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