| The immediate effect of this move was a triumphant press conference by the chief minister in Lucknow, claiming that as the total strength of the Vidhan Sabha had come down to 389, the numbers required by him to prove his majority had also come down. |
| "In the last vote of confidence in January, I had shown I have 223 MLAs. This is far in excess of the majority required in a House of 389. If the Opposition wants, I can advance the next session of the Assembly which is scheduled to meet on February 26. But I have a majority," Yadav told reporters. |
| It was this case that the Congress had made the cornerstone of its political strategy, but it went awry for several reasons. The Congress claims that 38 MLAs are defectors. |
| But the names of only 13 MLAs had been impleaded in the case. It had planned that in the event all the 38 MLAs were disqualified, it would ask the governor to get Yadav to furnish a list of MLAs supporting him. This very exercise would have seen a huge to and fro movement. But this never happened. |
| Supreme Court lawyers were agog that the bench which had reserved orders in the case after hearing it, chose to make its order public without any advance notice. Exactly what the status of the 38 others was, was also not clear to most lawyers. |
| The Congress and the BJP both asked the Mulayam government to resign on moral grounds. However, both appeared to be on a shaky ground. MLAs from both the Congress and the BJP had cross-voted in support of the government, violating the party whip on the motion of thanks on the governor's address, the last occasion when Yadav's majority was tested. |
| It is now crystal clear that it is Mulayam who will lead the government into elections when the EC sets dates for them, as a caretaker government, a contingency the Congress was determined to avoid. |
| "No one is interested in this government. All eyes are now set on the next one that will replace it," said a ruling coalition leader in Lucknow. |
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