The Manipur issue has caused a lot of trouble in Parliament during the monsoon session. The session started on July 20 and the no-confidence motion has been a major topic of discussion. The opposition and the government have not been able to address the issue for 18 days. The no-confidence motion allows any Lok Sabha MP to introduce a motion against the government if they can gather support from 50 MPs.
Once the motion is introduced, there is a discussion and the Prime Minister responds. MPs who support the motion point out the government’s shortcomings. Finally, there is a vote and if the motion carries, the government falls. Often, the opposition uses this option to force a discussion even if they know they don’t have enough votes to bring down the government.
The first no-confidence motion was brought in 1963 by Acharya J B Kripalani against the Jawaharlal Nehru government. It was supported by 44 members but was defeated by 347 votes against it. Indira Gandhi faced the highest number of no-confidence motions during her 16-year tenure, with a total of 15 motions.
The importance of the no-confidence motion can be seen in the case of Morarji Desai’s government. They faced two motions in the sixth Lok Sabha. While they won the first one, they had to resign when the second motion was moved by Y B Chavan in 1979. Lal Bahadur Shastri, PV Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Rajiv Gandhi have also faced no-confidence motions during their tenures.
Vajpayee’s motion in 2003 was moved by Sonia Gandhi but was defeated by 125 votes. PV Narasimha Rao faced three motions and won all of them, but the third one was controversial. Charan Singh, VP Singh, Chandra Shekhar, HD Deve Gowda, and IK Gujral did not face any no-confidence motions.
Deve Gowda’s government collapsed after 10 months as he lost the vote of confidence and Congress withdrew support. Vajpayee also faced three motions of confidence and lost the third one in 1999, leading to the dissolution of the 12th Lok Sabha.
The current no-confidence motion moved by the Congress is the second one faced by Modi in his nine-year tenure. The first one in 2018 was moved by TDP and was defeated by 199 votes.
