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Party No. of Seats The INC staked the claim to form the government together with the support of four independents Members, two Members of the Bahujan Samaj Party5 and one Member belonging to the Samajwadi Party6. The INC, having the support of 121 Members (114 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 121), formed the government. Mr. Kamal Nath who belongs to the INC was appointed Chief Minister. Two seats have fallen vacant from amongst the 109 ―INC‖ ―BSP‖ ―SP‖ seats held by the BJP. The current strength of the Legislative Assembly is 228 Members of which the BJP has 107 Members in the House.

4. At about 5:30 PM on 10 March 2020, leaders of the BJP met the Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly and handed over what purported to be the resignation letters of twenty-two Members belonging to the INC. Three days later, on 13 March 2020, the Chief Minister addressed a communication to the Governor alleging that following a foiled attempt on 3 / 4 March 2020 to allure Members owing allegiance to the INC, the BJP had on 8 March 2020 arranged three chartered aircraft ‗to whisk away‘ nineteen Members to Bengaluru. Since then, the nineteen Members, of whom six are Cabinet Ministers, were alleged to have been held incommunicado in a resort arranged for by the BJP. The letter adverted to the fact that the resignations of these nineteen Members had not been handed over by the Members themselves but rather by leaders of the BJP and that subsequently on 12 March 2020, an unsuccessful attempt was made by two Cabinet Ministers to meet one of the Members. The Chief Minister recorded:

Submissions

8. The submissions in the writ petition which has been moved by the MP Congress Party are addressed first. Mr Dushyant Dave, learned Senior Counsel having led the challenge, urged that the writ petition under Article 32 is founded on the need to maintain (i) constitutional morality; (ii) constitutional ethos; and (iii) constitutional principles. The submission is that the Constitution contemplates, in the ordinary course, a fixed term of five years for the Legislative Assembly and as a necessary incident, a voter is entitled to expect to be represented by their duly elected representative for a period of five years. It was urged that the anti-defection provisions contained in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution prescribe a 2/3 rd requirement to sustain a valid break away or merger. Mr Dave has urged that twenty-two Members owing allegiance to the INC have been highjacked and have been held in captivity in Bengaluru. According to the submission, the process began on 3 / 4 March 2020 when three INC Members, one BSP Member and one Independent Member, all of whom have supported the INC government of Madhya Pradesh in the past, were taken away to a hotel at Manesar, Gurugram by the BJP. It has been urged that though the BSP Member was ‗rescued‘ by the INC, other Members of the Legislative Assembly were taken to Bengaluru on a series of chartered flights arranged for by the BJP and under the escort of BJP Members and office bearers. Mr Dave submitted that on 9 March 2020 three chartered aircraft were arranged by the BJP to ‗spirit away‘ nineteen Members belonging to the INC including six Members who were Cabinet Ministers in the State Government of Madhya Pradesh to Bengaluru. They were stated to have been accompanied by Shri Hemant Khandelwal, Shri Uma Shankar and Shri Sudarshan Gupta belonging to the BJP. In this context, reliance has been placed on the manifest of the chartered aircraft. It has been urged that the resignations of the Members were handed over to the Speaker not by the INC Members themselves in person but rather by the leaders of the BJP in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. In the above background, Mr Dave submitted that:

15. Assailing the communication of the Governor dated 14 March 2020, Dr Singhvi submitted that in requiring a trust vote to be undertaken on the floor of the house, the Governor purported to rely upon Articles 174 and 175(2), neither of which confer such a power on the Governor. It was urged that the Governor sought a trust vote following an earlier communication of the same day inter alia by the Chief Whip of the BJP in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Dwelling on the judgment in Nebam Rebia, it has been submitted that the Constitution Bench has held that any message by the Governor to the Legislative Assembly can only be on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. The submission is that absent a situation where the Council of Ministers has tendered its aid and advice, it was not open to the Governor to intercede in the legislative business of the Legislative Assembly, particularly having regard to the provisions contained in Article 212 of the Constitution. The BJP, as the main opposition, would not (it was urged) be without a remedy since it is open to it to move a motion of no confidence. In sum and substance, it was of the submission of the Dr Singhvi on behalf of the Speaker that if the intervention of the Governor were to be permitted in the circumstances which have arisen in the present case, it would allow the Governor to become a supra legislative authority diluting the constitutional position of the Legislative Assembly. In the present case, it has been submitted that ongoing sessions of the Legislative Assemblies in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Kerala have been recently adjourned as a result of the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19) and hence there was nothing untoward in the Speaker‘s decision to adjourn the Madya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in the present case.