Floor test

Topic: State Government: Governor, Chief Minister, State Legislature and Union Territories · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Federalism"

Meaning

A floor test is a vote in the elected House (in a state, the Legislative Assembly) that shows whether the Chief Minister (CM) and the Council of Ministers still have the support of a majority of members. It matters because the floor of the House decides who governs, not the Governor's private opinion. S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994) made this the rule, and courts now use quick floor tests to check misuse of the Governor's power.

Explanation

Why it exists

• Art. 164(1): the Governor appoints the CM, and ministers hold office "during the pleasure of the Governor".

• In practice, that pleasure lasts only as long as the ministry keeps the assembly's confidence.

• Art. 164(2): the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly.

• Collective responsibility means all ministers stand or fall together before the House.

• The floor test is how this responsibility is checked. Majority must be shown by a vote in the House, not by counting heads in Raj Bhavan (the Governor's residence) [2].

Types

• Confidence motion: the government moves it to prove that it has a majority.
• No-confidence motion: the opposition moves it to remove the government.
• Composite floor test: one vote between two rival claimants, to see which one has the majority. The Supreme Court ordered this in Jagdambika Pal (UP, 1998).

How it works, step by step

1. Trigger: a new CM is sworn in after a disputed or hung result, or there is prima facie evidence (evidence that looks convincing at first sight) that a sitting government has lost its majority (Shivraj Singh Chouhan, 2020).
2. Call for the test: the Governor asks the CM to prove majority, or the Supreme Court orders a test.
3. Deadline: the time limit is now short and often set by a court. In Karnataka (2018), the Governor gave 15 days, and the Supreme Court cut this to about a day.
4. Vote: the motion is decided by a majority of members present and voting (Art. 189). The Speaker votes only to break a tie (casting vote).
5. Result: - If the CM wins, the government continues. - If the CM loses, the CM must resign. If a ministry has clearly lost its majority but refuses to resign, the Governor may dismiss it. - If no one can form a government, the Governor may dissolve the assembly or send a report under Art. 356.

Conditions and limits

• Short deadlines stop horse-trading (buying legislators' support with money or offices).
• Open ballot and live telecast make the vote transparent (Shiv Sena, 2019).
• Objective material needed: the Governor cannot call a floor test on a whim. There must be real evidence of lost majority (Subhash Desai, 2023).
• Not a tool for party quarrels: a dispute inside one party cannot be settled through a floor test (Subhash Desai, 2023).
• Session powers: under Art. 174 the Governor summons, prorogues and dissolves the House on the CM's advice (Nabam Rebia, 2016). So the Governor cannot rush the House into a vote on their own.

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional base: the term "floor test" is not in the Constitution. It comes from Art. 164 (appointment of the CM and collective responsibility), Art. 189 (voting in the House), and court rulings.
• Link to the Governor's discretion: choosing a CM in a hung assembly (where no party or alliance has a clear majority) is one of the Governor's situational discretionary powers [2]. The floor test is the check on that choice.
• Sarkaria Commission (report in 1988) and Punchhi Commission (report in 2010):
• The Governor should test majority only on the floor, not through private head-counts [2].

• In a hung House, the order of preference is: pre-poll alliance → largest party with others' support → post-poll coalition whose partners join the government → coalition with outside support [3].

• Landmark cases and instances:

Case / episode	Year	What happened
S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (nine judges)	1994	Majority must be tested on the floor of the House, not by the Governor's opinion
Jagdambika Pal (UP)	1998	The Supreme Court ordered a composite floor test. Kalyan Singh won
Jharkhand	2005	The Supreme Court brought the test forward. Shibu Soren resigned without facing it
Karnataka	May 2018	The Governor's 15-day window was cut to about a day. Yeddyurappa resigned before the vote
Shiv Sena v. Union of India (Maharashtra)	Nov 2019	Immediate test, open ballot, live telecast. Fadnavis resigned before it
Shivraj Singh Chouhan v. Speaker (MP)	2020	The Governor may call a floor test for a sitting government on prima facie evidence. Kamal Nath resigned
Subhash Desai v. Principal Secretary (five judges)	11 May 2023	The Governor's June 2022 call had no objective basis, but Thackeray was not restored because he had resigned

• Before Bommai: NCERT (Class 11, Ch. 7) records that after 1967, ministries were dismissed without any floor test. In Kerala in 1959, an elected government was dismissed even though it had a majority.
• Parallel at the Centre: in 1998, President K.R. Narayanan asked the new PM to win a confidence vote within ten days.

Don't confuse with

• No-confidence motion: this is one kind of floor test, moved by the opposition. "Floor test" is the wider term and also covers a confidence motion moved by the government.
• Governor's satisfaction / Raj Bhavan head-count: this is the Governor's private judgment based on letters or parades of MLAs. Bommai (1994) said this cannot replace a vote on the floor.
• Art. 356 report: this is the Governor's report to the President that the state government cannot run as the Constitution requires. It can lead to President's rule (when the Union takes over the running of a state for a time). A floor test is held inside the assembly and decides who governs.
• Disqualification under the anti-defection law: this is decided by the Speaker against individual members. Subhash Desai (2023) held that a split inside a party cannot be settled by a floor test.

Prelims Hooks

• S.R. Bommai (1994, nine judges): majority is tested on the floor of the House, not in Raj Bhavan.
• Jagdambika Pal (1998, UP) is the composite floor test case. Kalyan Singh won.
• Shiv Sena (2019): floor test with an open ballot (not secret) and a live telecast.
• Shivraj Singh Chouhan (2020): the Governor may call a floor test for a sitting government if there is prima facie evidence that it has lost its majority.
• Trap: Subhash Desai (2023) held the Governor's floor-test call wrong but did not restore Thackeray, because he had resigned before the test.
• Nabam Rebia (2016): the Art. 174 powers to summon, prorogue and dissolve the House are used on the CM's advice, not at the Governor's discretion.

Mains Points

• Floor test as a check on Raj Bhavan: court-ordered floor tests that are quick, open-ballot and televised (1998, 2018, 2019) reduce the Governor's room to favour one side. But Subhash Desai (2023) shows that the timing of a Governor's call can still decide the outcome, and that the court's remedy may come too late.
• Speed vs. fairness: short deadlines curb horse-trading. But the Governor still decides when a test is needed and whom to invite first in a hung House. That is why Sarkaria and Punchhi asked for the hung-assembly order to be written into conventions or law, and for majority to be tested only on the floor [2].
• Federal angle: after Bommai, use of Art. 356 fell from about 6 states a year (1967-93) to about 1.5 [2]. Making the floor test the rule helped protect elected state governments from dismissal by the Centre.

Related concepts

• Discretionary powers of the Governor
• Nabam Rebia case

Read more

• The Governor's discretion: government formation, floor tests and Art. 356 reports