The BJP government in Karnataka led by B S Yediyurappa, in office for just three days, won a confidence vote in the reduced state Assembly on Monday. The motion was carried by voice vote in a proceeding that took less than an hour, and Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar announced his resignation shortly afterwards.

The numbers

The disqualification of 17 rebel MLAs had cut the effective strength of the House and left the BJP comfortably placed, so the opposition Congress and JD(S) did not demand a division. The Speaker declared the one-line motion of confidence in the Yediyurappa ministry adopted.

On the eve of the vote, Kumar had disqualified 11 Congress and three JD(S) legislators until the end of the Assembly’s term in 2023, on top of three disqualified earlier. That brought the majority mark down to 105, equal to the BJP’s strength of 105, and the party also had the backing of one Independent. The Congress has 66 members and the JD(S) 34. The House also includes the Speaker, who votes only to break a tie, and a BSP member expelled by his party for defying its instruction to back the H D Kumaraswamy government in the trust vote on July 23.

In that vote, 17 rebels (14 from the Congress and three from the JD(S)) stayed away, and the Kumaraswamy government was defeated by 105 votes to 99.

The Speaker steps down

Kumar, who had served 14 months in the chair, handed his resignation letter to Deputy Speaker Krishna Reddy amid reports that the BJP was considering a no-confidence motion against him. He said he had acted according to his conscience and the Constitution, and had upheld the dignity of the office as best he could.

Claims and counter-claims

Moving the motion, Yediyurappa said he would not pursue vendetta politics and believed in the principle of “forget and forgive”. He said the administration had collapsed, the state was facing drought, and restoring the machinery was his priority.

Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah called the government “unconstitutional and immoral”, said it had no popular mandate and questioned whether it would last a full term. Kumaraswamy rejected the claim that the administration had collapsed as baseless, accused the BJP of coming to power through conspiracy and unconstitutional means, but said the JD(S) would not try to topple the new government.

The House also passed the Appropriation Bill, a vote on account covering three months. Yediyurappa had said it was urgent, since without it the government could not even pay salaries.

See also: Janata Dal (Secular) and state assembly members.

Originally published on 30 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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