Floor test in Karnataka Assembly to be held on 18th July

Bengaluru: The Congress-JDS alliance which is hanging by a thread after the mass resignations will have to prove its majority on Thursday.  The floor test will take place at 11 am on July 18, said Congress’s Siddaramaiah after a meeting of a panel that decides the agenda of the state assembly.

Sixteen MLAs of the ruling coalition have submitted their resignations to the Speaker. If the resignations are accepted, the coalition will have 101 MLAs in the 224-member House versus the BJP’s 105.

The BJP, which was pressing for a floor test today, said it won’t allow the House to proceed unless the no-confidence motion is held at the earliest.

The Supreme Court today also agreed to take up the pleas of five more rebel Karnataka MLAs who alleged that they were “being threatened to support the government on the threat of disqualification”. The hearing will take place tomorrow. Those who moved the court are Anand Singh, K Sudhakar, N Nagaraju, Roshan Baig and Munirathna. On July 11, acting on the plea by 10 rebels, the Supreme Court had asked the Speaker to decide on the resignations before the end of the day.