The no-confidence motion, moved in the Lok Sabha by the Opposition parties, is being debated in the Lower House. It was admitted on July 26 and has garnered a lot of interest. While it is clear that the Opposition parties do not have the numbers to pass the motion of no-confidence, some of the Opposition leaders have said the motion is primarily meant to pressure the government to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation in Manipur.
So what are the numbers of parties in the Lok Sabha and where do they stand?
The BJP has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha with 303 seats out of the total of 543. Four seats of Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, Ambala in Haryana, and Chandrapur and Pune in Maharashtra are vacant, leaving the count of total seats at 539. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP has 37 parties and the seat share is 332, as not all parties that are part of the alliance have seats in the Lok Sabha. Prominent among the NDA allies is the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) with 13 seats, Uttar Pradesh-based Apna Dal (Soneylal) with two seats, three independents and a host of small parties with a single seat each taking the total to 332 seats. In addition, three unaligned parties, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party with 22 seats, Biju Janata Dal with 12 seats, and the Telugu Desam Party with three seats are likely to support the BJP during the no-confidence motion vote, taking the total count of seats favouring the BJP government to 369 seats.
The newly-formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) has around 26 parties with Congress (49 seats in LS) taking the lead, followed closely in terms of seats by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) which has 24 seats in Lok Sabha. The All India Trinamool Congress has 23 seats, along with Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) which has 16 seats, Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) with 6 seats, and Nationalist Congress Party with four seats. If the motion goes for a vote, the INDIA alliance will have 143 votes.
On Tuesday, August 8, the Congress moved a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said they were compelled to bring in the motion to seek justice for Manipur. The Congress and its allies had earlier said that the no-confidence was more about getting the Prime Minister to issue a statement on Manipur rather than parading any numbers.