The Supreme Court on Thursday directed to conduct the floor test of Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh by 5 pm tomorrow. The decision came on the petition filed by BJP seeking immediate resolution of the political issue in the state.

“The voting has to be done peacefully, by a show of hands. It has to be videographed and there has to be live telecast of the proceedings,” the judges said.

Earlier in the day, while hearing the petition, the apex court had said it is not inclined to create a situation by giving two weeks time to Speaker NP Prajapati to decide on the resignations of 16 rebel MLAs from Madhya Pradesh Congress, as the delay could become a “gold mine” opportunity for “horse-trading”.

The BJP had contended that the Congress is delaying the trust vote in the name of coronavirus scare. The Assembly had reconvened on Monday and it was anticipated that BJP will seek trust vote in the House leading to collapse of the 15 months old Kamal Nath led Congress government.

But the event happened other way around, as the speaker NP Prajapati adjourned the House for 10 days till March 26 citing the coronavirus scare.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud and comprising Justice Hemant Gupta expressed its unwillingness to facilitate or create any kind of political situation which leads to horse-trading in the ongoing political crisis in Madhya Pradesh.

“Weeks are gold mines for horse-trading. It is why the court has been proactive in ordering the floor tests. The idea is to force the hands and make sure the floor test happens as soon as possible and prevent such things,” Justice Chandrachud said.

The political drama in the state unfolded after Jyotiraditya Scindia defected to BJP and his 22 loyals resigned from the Congress party. This led to a major political crisis for the ruling Congress which is having a wafer-thin majority in the state.

However, things didn’t go as thought by the BJP, as the Assembly Speaker did not accept resignations of 16 MLAs citing some error in their applications, and asked them to come and meet him personally.

These rebel MLAs are currently in Bengaluru, and on the question of coming back, said they don’t feel ‘safe’ in Kamal Nath’s governance.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Madhya Pradesh Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati, had earlier requested the top court to grant two weeks time to decide on the resignations. “Let the rebel MLAs come back to Madhya Pradesh, their homes,” he had prayed.

On these 16 MLAs, the court said if any of these MLAs wish to be present for the voting, security should be provided.