Uttarakhand crisis: Congress delegation to meet President Pranab Mukherjee

Upping the ante against government's recommendation to impose President's Rule in Uttarakhand, a Congress delegation will on Tuesday meet President Pranab Mukherjee to brief him on the situation. The delegation of senior Congress leaders led by Mallikrajun Kharge, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Sheila Dikshit, Anand Sharma, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Maken, Randeep Singh Surjewala and RPN Singh will be meeting the President Mukherjee at 6.30pm at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Meanwhile, the Nainital High Court on Tuesday ordered a floor test in the Assembly to determine which party enjoys a majority even as President's rule has been imposed in Uttarakhand. The High Court said the results of the floor test should not be declared in the Assembly and instead, should be presented before it in a sealed envelope.

However, according to sources, the Congress is likely to challenge the part of Nainital High Court's verdict, wherein it says that the rebel MLAs would be allowed to vote in the floor test. Congress party's lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the court order states that while the nine disqualified MLAs can vote but it will be kept separately. "The votes of the disqualified MLAs will be counted only as per the outcome," he said.

However, the court allowed President's rule in the state to continue. The Centre had dismissed the Congress government in Uttarakhand and imposed President's rule citing breakdown of governance on March 27. (