The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere in the Madhya Pradesh floor test issue stating that it is not going to come in the way of the legislature to decide who enjoys the trust.

“As a constitutional court, we have to discharge our duties,” the bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta said.

The apex court was hearing a peitition filed by BJP seeking the trust vote in Madhya Pradesh, which the Kamal Nath-led Congress had opposed.

Heated arguments broke out between senior counsel of the BJP and the Congress in the Supreme Court, where the later insisted on a floor test in the state Assembly be deferred till bypolls and quoted BR Ambedkar on constitutional methods to achieve goals. The BJP contested it saying the party which imposed Emergency is citing lofty ideals of Ambedkar.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the Madhya Pradesh Congress, submitted before a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising Justice Hemant Gupta that the BJP is destroying constitutional morality.

“Democracy in India is only a top dressing of Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic”, said Dave.

Dave contended that “the MLAs must go back to the electorate and win election again” and added that the lawmakers are expected to serve their constituencies and not get up one day and resign.

He insisted that “heavens are not falling that the Kamal Nath government must go immediately and Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government must be saddled on the people”.

Justice Hemant Gupta agreed with the statement and said, “That’s what they are doing. They are giving up on their membership and may go back again to voters.”

The Madhya Pradesh Congress told the apex court that a probe is needed on the resignation letters of its rebel MLAs submitted by BJP leaders to the Speaker of the state Assembly.

The party claimed that resignations of its rebel MLAs in Madhya Pradesh were extracted by force and coercion and they did not act as per their free will.

Advocate Dave also told the court that the Governor has no business to send messages at night asking the chief minister or the Speaker to hold floor test. He said that Congress rebel MLAs were taken away in chartered flights and are currently incommunicado at a resort in Bengaluru.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Shivraj Singh Chouhan, vehemently opposed these submissions and apparently took a dig at the Congress counsel and said the party which killed the democracy by imposing Emergency in 1975 is now citing “lofty ideals” of Ambedkar. He insisted that Dr Ambedkar was disappointed by the Congress party. “The Congress wants to stick on to the power by hook or cook”, argued Rohatgi.

He argued that after 22 Congress MLAs resigned, the state government is in minority and it should not be allowed to continue even for a day. “It is the lust of power, which is leading to all these lofty arguments…. It is unheard of that a person who had lost majority insists on continuing for six months. Also, insists on re-election before the trust vote”, added Rohatgi.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the BJP how could the court be sure that the 16 rebel Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh, staying at a resort in Bengaluru, had exercised their choice to tender their resignations from the state Assembly freely?

A bench said these 16 could tilt the balance this way or that way.

“We are thinking as to how we can ensure an order….They must have free unhindered access to the Assembly. They should be free to exercise, do whatever they want.”

Advocate Maninder Singh, representing the rebel MLAs, submitted before the court that it is wrong that MLAs were kidnapped or abducted and all allegations of coercion are rubbish. “They resigned out of their own free will. A direction be issued to the Speaker to accept their resignations,” insisted Singh.

BJP insisted that it can bring the 16 rebel Congress MLAs and present them before Justices Chandrachud and Gupta in chamber and the judges can ascertain the views of MLAs.

Meanwhile, 22 rebel Congress MLAs, who are currently lodged in Bengaluru, have written to Karnataka’s Director General of Police, requesting that “no Congress leader/member be allowed to meet them to ensure that there is no threat to their life and security.”

A political drama was witnessed early on Wednesday as Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and DK Shivakumar were stopped from meeting rebel party MLAs holed up in Bengaluru and taken into preventive custody.

Twenty-two MLAs of Congress submitted their resignations last week after Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse. Of these, the Speaker has accepted resignations of six MLAs.

On Tuesday, the court had asked the Kamal Nath government in the state to respond by Wednesday to a plea by senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking immediate floor test in the Assembly.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath had on Monday said that he has the numbers after his Congress government was asked by the Governor to prove its majority by Tuesday, hours after it got a 10-day breather with the Assembly being adjourned till March 26 reportedly over the Coronavirus outbreak.