Photo courtesy Sansad TV
New Delhi: The deputy leader of the Congress Party in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi moved a no-trust motion notice against the Narendra Modi Government over Manipur violence amidst disruptions in the House today. Along with the Congress, the no-trust vote was also brought by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which is not a part of the Congress-initiated Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, while allowing the no-confidence motion against the Government said he will inform of an appropriate time to take it up after a discussion with the leaders of all parties. The rules of procedure require the Speaker to verify whether 50 Members of Parliament support the motion by asking them to stand at their seats and take a count.
The motion is unlikely to pose any threat to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government as it has 331 out of 543 members. Interestingly, in the course of the budget session of Parliament in 2018 too, during the first term of the Narendra Modi government, many Opposition members had given notices to move a no-confidence motion against the government but due to disruptions, the motion was not admitted. That was the first time a notice to move a no-confidence motion was given in the previous Lok Sabha.
Incidentally, the government had agreed to speak on the Manipur issue during the monsoon session of Parliament, but the Opposition wants the Prime Minister to make a statement on the issue.
There have been 27 previous instances of no-trust motions moved in Lok Sabha, and on three occasions their defeat caused the fall of the government. The first no-confidence motion that led to the falling of a government was moved by Y B Chavan in 1979 against the Janata Party government. At that time, the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai had resigned before the motion could be put to vote. The last time when a discussion on a motion of no-confidence took place in the Lok Sabha, was in 2003 when the then Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, defeated it.
– global bihari bureau
