No confidence motion

Why in the news?

• The opposition Indian National Congress brought a motion of no-confidence against the ruling party, hoping to compel the Prime Minister to make a statement in the Parliament on the issue of Manipur.

What is a no confidence motion?

• A no-confidence motion, also known as a vote of no confidence, is a parliamentary procedure brought by the opposition in Parliament with the hope of defeating or weakening a government.
• A no-confidence motion in the Indian parliamentary system requires the support of a minimum of 50 members. Once these members support the proposal, they inform the speaker of the legislative body about their intention to discuss the motion. The speaker then schedules the discussion on the motion within 10 days from the date of its acceptance. If the discussion is not scheduled within this timeframe, the proposal fails, and the member who proposed the no-confidence motion is duly informed.
• A no-confidence motion proposal can be presented in Parliament only after a gap of six months from the rejection of a previous no-confidence motion.
• It is presented by the opposition when they believe the government does not have the confidence. The motion is passed or rejected through a new parliamentary vote (a vote of no-confidence).
• Recently, the Speaker accepted the motion, but the time and date for the discussion have not been scheduled yet.
• The Modi government has faced a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha for the second time. The previous no-confidence motion was brought by the TDP in July 2018 on the issue of granting special state status to Andhra Pradesh.
• The Lok Sabha currently has 543 seats, out of which 5 seats are vacant.
• The no-confidence motion remains a rare step. Since independence, including the present one, only 28 no-confidence motions have been brought in the Lok Sabha.
• In 2003, the Congress party presented a no-confidence motion against the Vajpayee government. However, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) successfully defeated the motion.

In 2008, amid the India-US nuclear deal crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented a vote of confidence, securing enough support in the parliamentary voting to reaffirm his government's majority and legitimacy.

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