Governor insists on floor test in Arunachal today

A day after the Supreme Court restored the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh, acting governor Tathagata Roy on Friday asked chief minister Nabam Tuki to prove his majority on the floor of the assembly on Saturday.

Tuki earlier on Friday called on the governor at Raj Bhavan in Itanagar where they discussed the overall development of the state and law and order issues. Reports said they also discussed the floor test in the state legislative assembly to be convened on Saturday.

Citing apprehension that the present state government does not command a majority in the assembly, the governor asked the chief minister to prove his majority in assembly on Saturday. He also emphasized that a sense of security must prevail among the people and action must be taken to ensure foolproof law and order arrangements in the state.

State home mminister Tanga Byaling was also present in the meeting. Roy, who recently took additional charge of Arunachal Pradesh after J P Rajkhowa went on leave due to ill health, on Thursday officially reinstated Tuki as the chief minister of the state.

The governor also asked the chief minister to call the legislative assembly session immediately and prove his majority no later than 16 July. An official statement from the governor's secretariat said that in order to ensure that the proceedings of the assembly take place peacefully and appropriately, the sessions shall be videographed.

"The governor emphasised that the conduct of the proceedings, including the videography, in the house shall strictly follow the principles laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in its order dated 6 May 2016 in the matter pertaining to the matter of imposition of President's Rule in the State of Uttarakhand (SLP C 11567/2016) Union of India Vs Harish Chandra Singh Rawat," the statement added.

A five-judge constitution bench had on Thursday pronounced the verdict on a bunch of petitions dealing with discretionary powers of the governor to summon or advance the assembly session.

Stating the governor's direction on conducting assembly proceedings is unconstitutional, the apex court set aside all steps and decision taken by the legislative assembly pursuant to the governor's December 9th last year order and said they are unsustainable.

A day after the apex court quashed "message and direction" issued by Arunachal Pradesh governor J P Rajkhowa, the centre said that it would only advice the governors as per the Constitution.

Arunachal Pradesh had been under President's Rule since 26 January.

The Tuki-led Congress government was dismissed following days of turmoil after 21 of its 47 lawmakers rebelled against the chief minister.

The Congress, which had 47 MLAs seats in the 60-member assembly, suffered a jolt when 21 of its lawmakers rebelled. Eleven BJP MLAs backed the rebels in the bid to upend the government. Later, 14 rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified.