NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh to a face floor test by 5pm on March 20 in the assembly by a show of hands of members, and asked police chiefs of Karnataka and MP to ensure security for the 16 rebel Congress MLAs if they choose to participate in the voting by coming to Bhopal from Bengaluru.After a two-day hearing where senior advocates from Congress and BJP were pitted against each other and which ended at 5.30pm on Thursday, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta adhered to the time-tested constitutional principles enunciated by the SC in the Bommai case to say, “State of uncertainty in the state of MP must be effectively resolved by issuing a direction for convening a floor test.”In doing so, the bench steered clear of a carefully crafted web of warnings couched in interpretation of constitutional provisions cited by senior advocates A M Singhvi and Kapil Sibal . Appearing for Congress, the duo argued that holding immediate floor test would reward the rebel MLAs and BJP for the “constitutional sin” they had committed by engineering defections through allurement of ministerial posts to destabilise an elected government.Congress’s arguments were vigorously countered by senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Maninder Singh, who joined ranks with solicitor general Tushar Mehta to defend the governor’s decision to ask the Kamal Nath government to face a floor test. They said the governor acted out of the knowledge that 22 Congress MLAs had deserted the party and that had prima facie reduced the Nath government to a minority in the House.After hearing the parties at length till 5.30pm, the bench pronounced the three-page order and laid down conditions under which the floor test would be conducted.Sources told TOI that the speaker is likely to initiate steps for disqualification of the 16 MLAs, which would prevent them from being given ministerial berths if a new government is formed by BJP. In the 230-member House, Congress had 114 members and BJP 109. Congress had formed government with the help of two BSP MLAs, one SP MLA and four independents.