Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) walked away from a Supreme Court-ordered floor test to prove it had the support of a majority of legislators to govern Karnataka, after an election a week ago threw up no clear winner.

The move paves way for an alliance of the main opposition Congress and the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) to form the government in the southern state. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa resigned after a long, emotional speech in the assembly. After ending the speech and announcing his resignation, he walked out of the assembly.

Newly elected MLAs had been due to vote in the assembly on the orders of the Supreme Court, which intervened after the opposition had protested against a decision of the Karnataka governor to invite the BJP to form a government in Karnataka.

His resignation would pave the way for an alliance of the JDS-Congress. “Democracy has finally won the battle against the unholy politics of intimidation, corruption and lies,” the Congress tweeted. “Congratulations Karnataka!”

Though the BJP won 104 seats in the Karnataka election, it was eight short of the majority mark of 111 after one of its legislators was picked as the speaker for today.

The Congress and the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) of HD Deve Gowda had taken their legislators out of Karnataka to prevent them from being poached by the BJP. The Supreme Court also rejected the Congress’s petition against making KG Bopaiah the pro tem speaker. “Live broadcast of floor test would be the best way to ensure transparency of proceedings,” the court had said.