No-Confidence Motion

·       Article 75 of the Constitution says that the council of ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. It means that the ministry stays in office so long as it enjoys confidence of the majority of the members of the Lok Sabha.

·       If any member of the House feels that the government in power does not have a majority then he/she can move a no-confidence motion.

·       A no-confidence motion can be moved by any member of the House.

·       If the motion is accepted, then the party in power has to prove its majority in the House.

·       The member need not give a reason for moving the no-confidence motion.

·       It can be moved only in the Lok Sabha and not Rajya Sabha.

·       It can be moved against the entire council of ministers only.

·       Rule 198 of the Rules of Procedure and conduct of Lok Sabha specifies the procedure for moving a no-confidence motion.

·       The member has to give a written notice of the motion before 10 am which will be read out by the Speaker in the House.

·       A minimum of 50 members have to accept the motion and accordingly, the Speaker will announce the date for discussion for the motion.

·       If it is passed in the Lok Sabha, the council of ministers must resign from office.

·       The allotted date has to be within 10 days from the day the motion is accepted. Otherwise, the motion fails and the member who moved the motion will be informed about it.

History of no confidence motion in India

·       The first no-confidence motion was moved during the third Lok Sabha in 1963 when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister. The motion was moved by former Congress and Praja Socialist Party leader Acharya J B Kripalani. 

·       The second no-confidence motion took place in 1964. An Independent MP N C Chatterjee moved the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Shastri.

·       In 1979, Y B Chavan had moved a no-confidence motion against the government headed by Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Desai had resigned and this became the first no-confidence motion that led to fall of the government.

·       Vajpayee government lost the no confidence motion by a margin of one vote (269-270) in April 1999.

·       Prime Minister Indira Gandhi faced the most no confidence motions (15), followed by Lal Bahadur Shastri and P. V. Narasimha Rao (three each), Morarji Desai (two) and Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi (one each).

·       The most recent no confidence motion was against the Narendra Modi government and accepted by the Speaker but defeated by 325–115.