By IANS,
Shillong : The no-confidence motion brought by the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) against the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) government was defeated by a recorded vote in the assembly Wednesday after an acrimonious debate that lasted several hours.
Since the NCP has only 15 members barring Deputy Speaker Sanbor Shullai and its suspended member Adolf Lu Hitler R Marak in 60-member house and the MUA enjoys the overwhelming majority with 43 legislators, the fate of the motion was a foregone conclusion.
The trust vote was defeated by 43 against 13 votes with two members abstained from voting. However, there was a heated exchange between the ruling and the opposition on the procedure of the vote.
Refusing to withdraw the no confidence motion, leader of opposition Conrad K. Sangma demanded that the voting must be done through ballot like in the Parliament where Electronic Voting Machines are used so that numbers are recoded. “But since we don’t have EVMs we need to vote through ballot,” Conrad said.
Earlier, moving the no-confidence motion, Conrad accused the Mukul Sangma-led government of acting as a “corporate government”.
The opposition also accused the government of failing to maintain law and order in the western part of Meghalaya, which is witnessing a series of militancy-related incidents.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, however, rejected the charges.