New Delhi, July 20: When the TDP member rises in the Lok Sabha to move no-confidence motion against the Modi government on Friday, it will be the 27th occasion when the House will debate and discuss the most potent weapon in the hands of the Opposition to unseat an elected government.
Yet, history of these motions taken recourse to since the third Lok Sabha shows almost all PMs — Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee — underwent the test and all except Desai emerged without being scalded. Desai, who led the country’s first non-Congress government between 1977-79, preferred to resign before a vote.
In fact, the number of no-confidence motions has come down sharply over the years and since 2003 parties in the Opposition never took recourse to the Rule 198 of the Lok Sabha that allows a member to give a notice for the motion with 50 or more MPs standing up in support.
It was during the 2003 monsoon session that Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi moved the motion against the Vajpayee government. After two-day debate, the House rejected it 312 to 186 votes.
Even though the first attempt to move the motion against Nehru was made in the 2nd Lok Sabha during August 1961, it received support of just six MPs and not accepted. The first one to be admitted was moved by JB Kripalani in August 1963 in the 3rd Lok Sabha, after three other attempts failed. Five other motions were moved in post-Nehru era between September 1964 and November 1966, the book on History of Motions and No-Confidence by former Lok Sabha secretary general GC Malhotra states.
During the 4th Lok Sabha (1967-1970), Indira Gandhi faced six motions and in the 5th LS (1971-77) she faced four more. On one occasion in September 1973, the Opposition accommodated after Jyotirmoy Basu’s motion was admitted. He withdrew following an appeal by Shyam Nandan Mishra that the PM was to attend the Non-Aligned meeting in Algiers. Indira Gandhi faced three more motions during 1980-84 and during May 1981, the motion was debated in her absence as she was on a foreign visit with R Venkataraman replying.
Source Tribune India
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