According to official data from the parliamentary affairs ministry, once the no-trust debate is initiated in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become the second incumbent to face a “no-confidence motion” with less than a year to go before general elections, following in the footsteps of Indira Gandhi.
The upcoming no-confidence vote will mark the seventh instance of the Lower House discussing such a motion within 12 months of the national polls. The previous six instances were as follows:
- August 1966 – HN Bahuguna moved a no-confidence motion against the Indira Gandhi government
- November 1966 – Umashankar Trivedi brought a no-confidence motion against the Indira Gandhi government.
- July 1970 – Madhu Limaye initiated a no-confidence motion against the Indira Gandhi government.
- July 1979 – YB Chavan tabled a no-confidence motion against the Morarji Desai government.
- August 2003 – Sonia Gandhi brought a no-confidence motion against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
- July 2018 – Srinivas Kesineni sponsored a no-confidence motion against the Modi government.
The 1979 motion occurred when the scheduled general elections were still three years away, but eventually took place in 1980 as the Janata Party coalition government collapsed prematurely.
Interestingly, five of these motions, except for Trivedi’s in 1966, were brought during the Monsoon session of Parliament, indicating a preferred time for the Opposition to make their move ahead of elections. In line with this tradition, the debate on the no-confidence motion sponsored by Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi will also be held during the Monsoon session.
Notably, besides facing three no-confidence motions within a year of general elections, Indira Gandhi went on to encounter a total of 12 no-confidence motions, the highest number for any prime minister. One such motion was brought by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in March 1967, barely a month after she won the Lok Sabha elections.
Parliamentary records indicate that a total of 27 no-confidence motions have been brought against the government of the day. Congress lawmaker Gogoi’s notice for a no-confidence motion against the council of ministers, admitted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday, will be the 28th.
