"BJP Eating Cow Lately": Twitter Reacts To Uttarakhand Floor Test Results

NEW DELHI: It’s not official. But it seems from initial reports that the Congress’ Harish Rawat has been able to prove majority in the Uttarakhand assembly, paving the way for his resumption as Chief Minister of the hilly state. A decision by the High Court preventing nine party dissidents from the vote gave Rawat a major boost, as it reduced the strength of the house from 70 to 61. This meant that Rawat would need only 31 votes to pass the floor test.

On D-day, Rawat claims to have secured a comfortable 34 votes, whilst the BJP has reportedly received 28 votes. The dissident MLAs had moved the Supreme Court yesterday in a bid to seek a stay on the High Court order. The details of the events leading up to the floor test can be found here. The official count of the votes will take place in the Supreme Court on Wednesday but that has not stopped the social media from having its word.

Twitter, of course, had a lot to say -- as the Uttarakhand floor test has been the subject of front page news ever since President’s Rule was imposed in the state on March 27.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal called the results a “huge setback” for the Modi government. “Hope they will stop toppling Govts now,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Most commentators agreed with Kejriwal in seeing the floor test results as a big blow to the BJP, as the party was actively supporting the defection in what former Delhi High Court chief justice Rajinder Sachar calls “their lust for power are willing[ness] to break all moral rules.”