What is a No Confidence Motion?

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What is a No-Confidence Motion?
• Who can move a No-Confidence Motion?
• How is a No-Confidence Motion Debated and Voted?
• What happens if the Government wins the vote on the No-Confidence Motion?
• How many No-Confidence Motions have been introduced since Independence?

Why in News?

• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has admitted a no-confidence motion against the ruling government.
• The motion was proposed by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, on behalf of opposition parties of I.N.D.I.A alliance.

What is a No-Confidence Motion?

• In a parliamentary democracy, a government can be in power only if it commands a majority in the directly elected House.
• Article 75(3) of the Constitution embodies this rule by specifying that the Council of Ministers are collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.
• For testing this collective responsibility, the rules of Lok Sabha provide a particular mechanism – a motion of no-confidence.
  • The procedure is specified under Rule 198 of the Lok Sabha. The Constitution does not mention either a Confidence or a No Confidence Motion.

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Who can move a No-Confidence Motion?

• Any Lok Sabha MP, who can garner the support of 50 colleagues, can, at any point of time, introduce a motion of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers.
• A no-confidence motion can be moved only in the Lok Sabha. It cannot be moved in the Rajya Sabha.

How is a No-Confidence Motion Debated and Voted?

• The motion is moved by the member who submitted it, and the government will then respond to the motion.
• The opposition parties will then have the opportunity to speak on the motion.
• After the debate, the Lok Sabha will vote on the no-confidence motion.
• The motion will be passed if it is supported by a majority of the members of the House.
• If a no-confidence motion is passed, the government must resign.

What happens if the Government wins the vote on the No-Confidence Motion?

• If the government wins the vote on the no-confidence motion, the motion is defeated and the government remains in power.

How many No-Confidence Motions have been introduced since Independence?

• There have been 27 no-confidence motions introduced in the Lok Sabha since independence.
• The first no-confidence motion against the administration of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was presented in the Lok Sabha in August 1963.
• The motion obtained only 62 votes in favor and 347 votes against it.
• The last no-confidence motion was moved in 2018 against the then NDA government.

Source: ET I ET