Nitish govt set to face floor test in Bihar today

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led government will face a floor test in the Bihar Assembly on Monday, 12 February. Last month, Kumar took the oath as Bihar CM for the record ninth time after dumping the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) and the INDIA bloc to form a new government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Now Kumar with his newly-formed alliance will seek a trust vote in the Assembly. Ahead of the floor test, Nitish Kumar’s party Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has issued a three-line whip to all of its MLAs to be present during the proceedings. All eyes will, therefore, be on the floor test exercise that is taking place after days of what was seen as a ‘politically volatile’ situation in the state.

Ahead of the crucial number test, the Congress shifted its MLAs to Hyderabad to protect them from possible “poaching”. The Congress legislators have returned to Patna from Hyderabad. At the same time, RJD MLAs have been camping at former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav’s place since Saturday night. The BJP shifted its MLAs to Maha Bodhi resort in Bodh Gaya. However, BJP claimed that its legislators were sent to Bodh Gaya for some training.

Meanwhile, CM Nitish Kumar has expressed confidence that the government led by him will prove its majority in the Assembly comfortably. Nitish has already said that he has again come to National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and will stay permanently with it.

Former Bihar Chief Minister and Hindustan Awam Morch (HAM) founder, Jitan Ram Manjhi has also issued a whip to his party's four MLAs, asking them to vote in favour of the NDA government during the floor test in the Bihar Assembly.

Ahead of the much-awaited floor test in Bihar, it is important to have a look at how the numbers stack up.

The total strength of the Bihar Assembly is 243 and the majority mark is 122. The NDA has a comfortable majority of 128 with the BJP having 78 MLAs, the JD-U 45, HAM 4 and an independent MLA. The opposition has 114 MLAs of which RJD has 79, Congress 19, CPI-ML 12, CPI-M 2, and CPI has 2.