Parliament is set to engage in a debate on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on August 8. The motion was moved by the Congress party and supported by the newly formed INDIA alliance along with other opposition parties over the Modi administration's handling of the escalating ethnic violence in Manipur.
The Manipur crisis, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 180 people and displaced over 50,000, has triggered public outrage and demands for government intervention. However, Prime Minister Modi's notable absence from addressing the issue in Parliament has sparked protests. The no-confidence motion, introduced by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, seeks to leverage the parliamentary platform to hold the government accountable for its actions, or lack thereof, regarding the Manipur crisis.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accepted the motion on July 26 and the debate is now scheduled for August 8 and 9, with the voting process set to follow. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to provide his response on August 10.
The no-confidence motion, a key procedural tool in a parliamentary democracy, seeks to scrutinise the Council of Ministers' performance, who are collectively responsible for governance and answerable to the directly elected House. Article 75(3) of the Constitution underpins this principle, stating that the government must maintain a majority in the Lok Sabha to retain power.
It allows any member with the backing of at least 50 colleagues to challenge the ruling government's majority. Upon the Speaker's approval, the motion is debated, where proponents criticise the government's performance while the government defends itself.
A subsequent vote determines whether the motion passes, leading to the government's removal if successful. A no-confidence motion needs a majority to pass in the House with abstentions removed from the overall strength of the House. If the motion succeeds, then the government has to resign.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government currently holds a commanding lead with 331 members, of which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone boasts 303 MPs. This numerical advantage makes it improbable for the motion to succeed, as even when combined, opposition parties, including the INDIA alliance (144 members) and unaligned (70), fall short of the required support.
While the motion is unlikely to topple the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which currently enjoys a robust majority in the Lok Sabha, its strategic purpose is to compel the government to address the Manipur crisis.
This is the second time PM Modi is facing a no-confidence motion since he came into power in 2014. In 2018, a no-confidence motion was introduced over granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh but was defeated after a 12-hour debate.
The first motion of no confidence was introduced in 1963 by Acharya JB Kripalani against Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's government. Since then, 26 more no-confidence motions have been presented in the parliament.
The earliest cases of no-confidence motions were directed at Prime Minister Nehru in 1963, spearheaded by Congress leader Acharya Kripalani, following the country's defeat in the 1962 conflict against China. Indira Gandhi, during her tenure as Prime Minister, encountered the highest number of no-confidence motions, totaling 15, all of which she successfully withstood. Other leaders, including Narasimha Rao, Morarji Desai, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Narendra Modi, faced varying degrees of such motions, each undergoing at least one.
In 2003, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had initiated a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Vajpayee. While many no-confidence motions have ended in defeat, exceptions emerged, such as in 1979 when Prime Minister Morarji Desai resigned even as the debate remained inconclusive, in 1990 when VP Singh government lost, in 1997 when HD Deve Gowda government fell, and in 1999 when the Vajpayee government relinquished power.