Ahead of trust vote against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led NDA government, a non-confidence motion to remove Bihar Assembly Speaker and RJD leader Awadh Bihari Choudhary was moved and carried by the State Assembly, and the Speaker was ousted. A total of 125 MLAs voted in favour of the motion, while 112 MLAs voted against the motion.
Awadh Bihari Choudhary, a senior RJD politician, was appointed speaker of the Bihar assembly by the Mahagathbandhan administration, which took power 18 months ago after Nitish jumped ship and abandoned the BJP.
The Assembly Secretariat issued the House's business agenda for Monday, when the budget session began, which included the Governor's usual address to members of the bicameral legislature. According to the agenda, the Governor's address will be followed by a preliminary speech, by the Speaker.
Following the Governor's remarks, the assembly took up the request to remove the Speaker, which would be followed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asking a trust vote for the administration.
Ahead of the trust vote, the Congress flew its MLAs to Hyderabad last week due to fears about 'poaching', while the RJD's MLAs opted to stay together in Tejashwi Yadav's residence, while BJP leader Nityanand Rai said all 78 MLAs of the saffron party were at a hotel in Patna. Nitish Kumar's JD(U) has arranged for 40 of its MLAs to stay at another hotel in the state capital.
Nitish Kumar, who has been sworn in as chief minister for a record ninth term, had been closely monitoring the situation within the JD(U), attending both the legislative party meeting and a luncheon held a day earlier as a warm-up exercise ahead of the critical trust vote.