Bihar floor test updates: CM Nitish Kumar wins trust vote

Nitish Kumar, who took the oath for the sixth time as Bihar chief minister on Thursday (July 27), won the floor test in the state assembly on Friday.

'Conscience pricked me': What exactly is Nitish Kumar's conscience made of?

Though there were 108 votes against Nitish, the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance won the majority with 131 votes.

In order to obtain the majority mark in the 243-member Bihar assembly, the winning party needed the support of 122 members. needs the support of 122 legislators.

In the 2015 Bihar elections, Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had won the most number of seats -- 80. Kumar's JD(U) had secured 71 seats, followed by BJP with 53 seats and Congress with 27 seats.

Along with Nitish Kumar, BJP's Sushil Modi took oath on Thursday as the Deputy CM of Bihar. 

Here are the updates:

1.58 pm IST: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar leaves from Bihar Assembly after winning the floortest.

1.40 pm IST: "Happy that govt led byNitish Kumar has won vote of confidence, we will sit down soon to discuss about the cabinet," says Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi

1.36 pm IST: The former Deputy CM also said that he had asked many questions to the BJP and Nitish Kumar, which they were unable to answer.

1.25 pm IST: Tejashwi Yadav alleges Nitish Kumar of insulting the Mahagatbandhan.

1.07 pm IST: Kumar had 131 votes in his favour and 108 against him.

1.05 pm IST: Nitish Kumar wins Bihar floor test.

1.02 pm IST: Speaker Chaudhary calls for lobby division to test the strength of the Nitish Kumar government. MLAs will have to sign a register for or against the confidence motion.

12.59 pm IST: Sushil Modi takes a dig at RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for owing benami properties.

12.50 pm IST:  Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi takes a swipe at Congress and RJD.

12.45 pm IST: Nitish Kumar says that Secularism should not be used to justify corruption. "Won't support people who make money through wrong ways," says Nitish Kumar in assembly. 

12.40 pm IST: Floor test begins in Bihar assembly.

12.35 pm IST: RJD MLAs raises objections against Nitish Kumar after he accused RJD of shielding mafia don turned politician Mohammed Shahabuddin.

"Mohammed Shahabuddin was protected by the RJD. The mandate was not for doing this, but for development. I tried to continue Mahagathbandhan. But they did not follow coalition dharma," said Nitish Kumar.

12.20 pm IST: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is now speaking in Bihar Assembly.

12.10 pm IST: Congress leader Sadanand Singh speaking in Bihar Assembly now.

12.06 pm IST: Nand Kishore Yadav has also alleged Tejashwi of being corrupt.

"Weaker sections of the public are happy. They know Tejashwi Yadav owns thousands of crores. He takes care of only himself, not the poor," said the BJP leader.

12.01 pm IST: Nand Kishore Yadav has said that many RJD members have approached him in order to join his party.

"Many of the RJD MLAs are in touch with me. They want to join us," said Nand Kishore Yadav.

11.50 am IST: Nand Kishore Yadav of the BJP is speaking now. 

11.45 am IST: Yadav also challenged Nitesh Kumar's principals.

11.42 am IST: Tejashwi Yadav concludes his speech by saying that Nitish Kumar is still his uncle, but he betrayed him. He also added that if Nitish Kumar would have asked him to resign, he would have thought about it.

11.40 am IST: Tejashwi Yadav also called the entire incident planned.

"Sushil Modi is also facing cases. So why did he take oath (as deputy chief minister). Why was the timing of the oath-taking ceremony changed? How did Narendra Modi tweet so quickly on Nitish Kumar's resignation," Yadav said.

11:38 am IST: The 27-year-old Yadav also alleges Kumar of not having discussed his resignation with him.

"CM Nitish Kumar never discussed with me about my resignation. I was taking legal opinion and I told him about that. I am 22-years-old but I am never afraid. Nitish, on the other hand, went with them, (BJP)," says Tejashwi Yadav.

11:35 am IST: The former Deputy CM calls BJP the killers of Mahatma Gandhi. Ruckus erupts in the assembly folowing the commemt.

11:30 am IST: Tejashwi Yadav asserts that he has always supported the Dalits and the minorities.

11.25 am IST: Tejashwi Yadav alleges Kumar of using him as a pawn.

"Nitish Kumar had planned to go with the BJP well in advance. Whenever he fights alone, he is exposed Nitish Kumar needs either the BJP or the RJD. I was used as a pawn," alleges Yadav.

11.22 am IST:  After Tejashwi Yadav tells BJP's Sushil Modi to be "ashamed" of what he has done, both the parties hurl accusations at each other.

11.20 am IST: Tejashwi Yadav also says, "Nitish Kumar could not dare to sack me....The BJP is greedy. Nitish fought alone in 1995 and got seven seats. In 2014, he was reduced to two seats. Where was his image then".

11.19 am IST: Tejashwi says that Nitish has betrayed the 2015 mandate by pulling this move.

 "There have been four governments in four years. Who is responsible for this? People want an answer. Nitish Kumar has betrayed the 2015 mandate. The mandate was for five years and it was against the BJP," Yadav said.

11.15 am IST: Former deputy chief minister Tejashwi is seated in the chair kept for the Leader of Opposition. Reports suggest that he has prepared a speech and wants 40 minutes to speak.

11.10 am IST: Nitish Kumar has moved the confidence motion. 

11:07 am IST: RJD legislators start raising slogans inside Bihar assembly.

11:02 am IST: Bihar assembly floor test begins.

11.01 am IST: ABP news also said that Bihar HC will hear RJD's plea on Monday.

10.59 am IST: Bihar High Court has admitted RJD's plea challenging the governor's decision to invite Nitish Kumar to form government, reports ABP News.

10.56 am IST: Congress MLAs are protesting outside Bihar Assembly.

10.50 am IST: Former Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav arrives at Bihar assembly.

10.48 am IST: 'It is just a matter of few hours, wait and watch and you'll find out which party MLA's are siding with whom," says Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

10.45 am IST: RJD MLAs protest outside Bihar assembly ahead of CM Nitish Kumar's floor test.

10.42 am IST: Deputy CM Sushil Modi reaches Bihar assembly ahead of the floor test.

10.40 am IST: "Let Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar say why he is supporting a non-NDA candidate for Vice-President. There is no cross voting from Congress," says Congress leader CP Joshi.

10.35 am IST: "Very clear that we will win trust vote as we have the support of 132 MLAs," said Mangal Pandey from BJP.

10.30 am IST: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar arrives for the floor test in Bihar assembly.

10.15 am IST: JD(U) leader Ajay Alok has said that no leader is unhappy.

10.01 am IST: Latest reports say that Congress is holding a meeting in Patna and no decision has been taken yet. The sources denied that MLAs have decided to cross vote.

9.51 am IST:  The Opposition party RJD has 80 MLAs, while the Congress has 27 and the CPI-ML has three.

9.50 am IST: Security has been tightened outside the Bihar assembly.

9.25 am IST: "CM will get a full majority today. Politics is about serving people, it's not a medium to collect money or property," said Neeraj Kumar of JD(U).

9.20 am IST: "Resignation of Nitish Kumar and formation of the government within two hours clearly indicates that some sort of planning had been done previously. Nitish Kumar had made up his mind to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)," NCP leader Nawab Malik told ANI.

9.10 am IST: Meanwhile, RJD has issued a whip asking its MLAs to be present in the assembly.

9.01 am IST: The JD(U) says that the party will still support the vice-presidential candidate from the Opposition, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, over BJP nominee Venkaiah Naidu.

8.55 am IST:  JD(U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi in response to a claim made by the RJD that it has the numbers, said, "They should stop making tall claims and if they really have the numbers, let them prove it in the floor test. We have our numbers and we will prove it."

8.52 am IST: Latest reports suggest that RJD is likely to disrupt the proceedings in the assembly.

8.45 am IST: An English daily report said that CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury attacked Nitish Kumar for taking oath as Bihar Chief Minister "every few years" and added that Kumar has set "quite a record" in this connection.

8.40 am IST: According to PTI, Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj said that elaborate security arrangement has been made in and around the assembly building for Friday's special one-day session.

8.30 am IST: After a brief Cabinet meeting held on Thursday, the notification calling for five-day monsoon session for bicameral Bihar legislature from July 28 to August 3 has been cancelled, the Financial Express reported.

8.25 am IST: According to latest reports from the Bihar assembly secretariat, Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary would address the assembly at the beginning of the session and Kumar would then move the confidence motion.

8.15 am IST: The NDA alliance has submitted a letter to Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi which names 132 MLAs supporting them. The 132 MLAs include 124 from the JD(U)-BJP alliance, two from Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party 's (LJP), two seats of Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), one from Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and three independent members.

7.54 am IST: The chief minister and his new partner, the BJP, claim to have the support of 124 legislators— 71 of JD(U) and 53 from BJP— which is actually two more than the required mark of 122.

7.30 am IST: The assembly secretariat has informed the house members to participate in the one-day special session which will begin at 11 am. "The members have been informed by telephone, SMS and letters," said Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.

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