India's Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, PM Narendra Modi To Face No-Confidence Motion

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to face its first no-confidence motion in four years at the parliament on Friday where it is required to prove its majority on the floor of the house.

A look at the numbers in the parliament showed out of the 535 seats in the lower house, 314 members belong to the ruling coalition while only 221 belong to opposition parties. Hence, the numbers show a thumping victory to the Modi government.

“The numbers are very clear. The BJP by itself has a majority in the lower house. We have nearly 314 members within the NDA and there are many other parties which are likely to oppose this no-confidence motion,” BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said.

However, the motion threatens to dent the image of the Modi government as it gives an opportunity to the opposition to create a perception against the administration by highlighting the alleged failures in fulfilling its promises.

Parliament speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted the no-confidence motion submitted by opposition parties against the ruling government on issues like mob lynching and atrocities against women and Dalits on Wednesday.

A no-confidence motion can be moved by any parliamentarian without stating a reason if he/she feels the incumbent government has lost its majority. Once the submission is accepted, the speaker announces a day for it to be discussed in the parliament. If the government loses “confidence” after the voting, it is required to resign.

While the support of at least 50 Members of Parliament is required to submit the motion, Telugu Desam Party, one of the opposition parties, managed to secure the support from 145 members raising several eyebrows.

“Around 12 opposition parties held a meeting yesterday where they agreed for collectively bringing a vote of no-confidence against the government in the Monsoon Session,” Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Indian National Congress said.

“It is a self goal by the Congress and its alliance partners because the BJP combine has comfortable majority in Lok Sabha. Also, the motion provides a platform for the government to showcase all its good work done in the last four years,” a senior BJP parliamentarian told Live Mint.

Prior to the beginning of the monsoon session in parliament, Modi had announced his government is ready for a discussion on any issue raised by opposition parties.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the no-confidence motion is a test of loyalty towards NDA for BJP and the government is most likely to use this as a launch pad for the 2019 election.

During the previous parliament session in March, YSR Congress, a regional party, submitted a no-confidence against the government but it could not be taken up following the ruckus in the parliament. In the last held no-confidence motion in 2003, Congress was defeated by BJP while in 1999, BJP had lost by a single vote.