Mulayam wins confidence vote

LUCKNOW: UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav must have heaved a huge sigh of relief after he proved his majority in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday by a comfortable margin. Not a single Opposition member was present in the House when the confidence motion was passed.

In a lobby division, done after the Opposition walkout, 223 votes were counted in favour and none against the motion. The ruling Samajwadi Party pulled off the unexpected number by engineering defections. Ten MLAs from the BJP, four of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and three from Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) defied their party whips and crossed the floor to vote for the government.

Later, leaders of Opposition parties trooped down to the Raj Bhavan and asked the Governor to impose President’s Rule in UP.

With the passage of the confidence motion, Mulayam has put paid to all doubts regarding his government’s majority. He needed a majority figure on the higher side to demonstrate that his government would survive even if the 33 defector MLAs of Loktantrik Bahujan Dal (LBD) supporting it were to be disqualified.

“Mulayam has made a mockery of the democratic system… legislators are being lured and purchased,” leader of the Opposition Lalji Tandon said.