Karnataka Speaker Sets 6pm Floor Test Deadline, Summons Rebels Over Disqualification Plea

Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar set a 6pm deadline for the floor test on Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s confidence motion and summoned the rebel MLAs to appear before him the following day over a plea seeking their disqualification, as the Congress-JD(S) coalition struggled to survive.

The stand-off

Kumaraswamy had appealed to the rebels to return to the House and “expose” the BJP, but the legislators, lodged in a Mumbai hotel, said they would not attend and denied that they were being held against their will. Rebel JD(S) legislator K Gopalaiah said in a video message that the government had failed to deliver for the state. The Congress, meanwhile, said the JD(S) was willing to give up the top post and named Siddaramaiah, G Parameshwara and DK Shivakumar as possible chief ministers; the JD(S) did not confirm any such offer.

Kumaraswamy insisted he was not hanging on to power and said he wanted the debate to expose what he called the BJP’s attempt to subvert democracy and the Constitution. BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa predicted that the government’s days were over and accused the chief minister of buying time.

Legal moves

Independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh, who had pulled their support, sought a Supreme Court direction for a floor test no later than 5pm on July 22, according to their counsel Mukul Rohatgi. The chief minister and the Congress had separately challenged the Governor’s role in the court, and sought clarification of its July 17 order on the question of whips. Governor Vajubhai Vala’s two deadlines of July 19 had passed without a vote.

Where the numbers stood

A total of 16 coalition MLAs, 13 of them from the Congress and three from the JD(S), had resigned, and Ramalinga Reddy later retracted. The ruling side had 117 members including a nominated MLA, apart from the Speaker, while the BJP had 107 with the support of the two independents in a House of 225. If 15 rebels stayed away or their resignations were accepted, the coalition’s strength would fall to 101. BSP chief Mayawati asked her party’s only MLA, N Mahesh, to back the government.

What happened next

The Kumaraswamy-led coalition government fell in July 2019, and B. S. Yeddyurappa returned as Chief Minister of Karnataka.

See also: JD(S) | State assembly members

Originally published on 22 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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