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Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow
After abstaining from Monday's poll for the lone Uttar Pradesh State Legislative Council [Vidhan Parishad] seat, to which the ruling coalition's official nominee got elected, the Congress party has suddenly demanded the dismissal of the Mayawati-led state government.
A delegation of the Congress party led by Pramod Tiwari called on Uttar Pradesh Governor Vishnukant Shastri on Tuesday morning with this demand.
"We have asked the governor to convene a special session of the house where Mayawati should be asked to prove her majority," Tiwari told rediff.com.
Virtually repeating the Samajwadi Party line, Tiwari said, "Yesterday's election had amply demonstrated that the Mayawati government stood reduced to a minority."
"Despite the victory of the ruling coalition nominee, Munna Singh, the fact that he polled only 194 votes in a 403-member state assembly, clearly speaks of the definite fall in support to the Mayawati government," he said.
When pointed out that if the Congress had voted, the coalition candidate would have lost, Tiwari said, "Well, we had to keep away from the polling because the candidate put up by BJP rebels and the Samajwadi Party had not even cared to take us into confidence."
He, however, hastened to add, "But right now the point is that the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition had polled only 194 votes as against a minimum requirement of 202 votes for a simple majority in the house."
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