Hooda wins trust vote in Haryana assembly

Four days after he was sworn in as the Haryana Chief Minister for the second straight term, Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday won the vote of confidence in the state assembly.

Hooda, chosen by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for the top job despite a sizeable decline in the party's strength in the assembly, won the trust motion with 47 members voting in the government's favour in the 90-member House.

Soon after he took oath as chief minister on Sunday, the veteran Jat leader was asked by Governor Jagannath Pahadia to prove his majority on the floor of the House, within a week.

The Congress emerged as the single largest party after the assembly polls, bagging only 40 seats, but managed to cobble a majority after securing the unconditional support of seven independents.

Hooda, 62, insisted on a head count after Indian National Lok Dal supremo Om Prakash Chautala objected to Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha's advise that the motion be passed by a voice vote.

 

Thirty-nine Congress members, seven Independents and a lone Bahujan Samaj Party member voted in favour of the motion in the head count.

 

Earlier, Congress leader Chatha was elected Speaker of the House.

 

In the October 13 assembly election, which threw up a hung House, the INLD finished second by garnering 31 seats.

 

The Haryana Janhit Congress-BL won six seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party won four seats and the BSP and the Shiromani Akali Dal won one seat each. Hooda first became the chief minister on March 5, 2005.