Once the no-trust debate is initiated in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become the second incumbent to INDIA’s highest executive office after Indira Gandhi to face a “no-confidence motion” with less than a year to go before general elections more than once, according to official data from the parliamentary affairs ministry.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi easily survived the first attempt to topple his government in July 2018 — nine months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. (HT photo)
The no-trust vote will be the seventh instance of the Lower House discussing a no-confidence motion within 12 months of the national polls. The previous six instances: August 1966 against the Indira Gandhi government by HN Bahuguna; November 1966 against Indira Gandhi government by Umashankar Trivedi; July 1970 against Indira Gandhi government by Madhu Limaye; July 1979 against the Morarji Desai government by YB Chavan; August 2003 by Sonia Gandhi against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government; and July 2018 against the Modi government by Srinivas Kesineni.
To be sure, when the 1979 motion was moved, the scheduled general elections were still three years away but were eventually conducted in 1980 as the Janata Party coalition government collapsed prematurely.
Five of the these motions, barring the one by Trivedi in 1966, were brought in the Monsoon session of Parliament, suggesting it is the preferred time for the Opposition to strike ahead of polls. True to this convention, the debate on the no-confidence motion sponsored by Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi will also be held in the Monsoon session.
Apart from the three she faced within a year of general elections, Gandhi went on to face another12no-confidence motions — the highest by any prime minister — including one by Vajpayee in March 1967, barely a month after she won the Lok Sabha elections.
Parliamentary records show that a total of 27 no-confidence motions that have been brought against the government of the day. Congress lawmaker Gogoi’s notice for a no-confidence against the council of ministers, which was admitted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday, will be the 28th.
According to the rules, the Speaker has to start the debate in 10 days. Rule 198 of the Lok Sabha says, “The Speaker shall declare that leave is granted and that the motion will be taken up on such day, not being more than ten days from the date on which the leave is asked for.”
All prime ministers, barring Morarji Desai, have survived no-confidence motions. Desai, who succeeded Indira Gandhi in the historic post-Emergency elections of 1997 resigned during the debate on a no-confidence in July 1979.
To be sure, no-confidence is different from trust vote, which is sought by the Prime Minister. Three governments have fallen in trust votes -- the V P Singh government in 1990, the HD Deve Gowda government in 1997, and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1999.
In August 2003, Congress president Sonia Gandhi moved a no-confidence against the Vajpayee government, leading to sharp exchanges between the Opposition and the Treasury benches. Sonia Gandhi produced a “charge sheet” against Vajpayee, who later quipped that she perhaps searched a dictionary to pick up words. The Vajpayee government defeated the motion, but later power the following year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi easily survived the first attempt to topple his government in July 2018 — nine months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. His government won the no-confidence motion by 325-126 votes.
This time, too, the numbers are stacked heavily in his favour and his government faces no threat at all from the no-confidence motion. The NDA has 330 seats while INDIA has 141 MPs. Others have 67 MPs.
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