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![image: [ Mayhem in the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly last October after the BJP won a majority ]](/olmedia/60000/images/_60367_INDIAC~1.jpg)
The BJP candidate for chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh, defeated his rival by 225 votes to 196.
The vote ended a week of confusion that began on Saturday 21 February, when a government headed by the BJP was sacked after two of its allies deserted it.
One of those parties was to lead the next government, but it too was dismissed after a court order.
The Supreme Court in Delhi on Tuesday ordered the two rival claimants to the office of chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to test their claims in a specially arranged secret ballot on the floor of the Assembly.
There was mayhem the last time there was a vote of confidence in the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly, last October.
The BJP, led by Kalyan Singh, then managed to win a majority by wooing legislators away from its rival, the Congress Party. Members retaliated by flinging microphone stands from their desks and chair cushions.
This time the Speaker ordered almost all potential projectiles, including microphone stands, removed from the Chamber.
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The vote was not a typical vote of confidence. The Supreme Court in Delhi ordered that the two claimants to the chief ministers' chair had to test their strength simultaneously with Assembly members.
That had to be done by a secret written ballot, rather than a voice vote or divisions. It's an unprecedented way of resolving such a stand-off.
Legal experts expressed surprise at the Supreme Court move and asked who was technically chief minister of the state in the interim if no-one was taking a vote of confidence.
India: BJP setback on eve of vote
(21 Feb 98 | World)
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