New Delhi, July 19: Voting will be held on the no-confidence motion against the Modi government in Lok Sabha on Friday. This is the first time that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government will face such a motion. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi met the most number of no-confidence motions – 15 times. If a majority of the members of the House vote in favour of the no-trust motion, the Modi government will have to vacate the office.
Though, no-confidence motion has been moved several times in the past, only three times the opposition managed to compel prime minister to resign. Three prime ministers - Vishwanath Pratap Singh, HD Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee - had lost the power following no-confidence motion. Here's the brief history of three successful no-confidence motions moved in Parliament.
In 1990, VP Singh, the 7th prime minister of the country, had to face a no-confidence motion after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out its support from the National Front coalition government over the arrest of LK Advani and Pramod Mahajan when the two were on their way to Ayodhya for construction of Ram Mandir on a disputed site. Singh lost the vote 142-to-346 and resigned on 7 November 1990.
HD Deve Gowda, the 11th prime minister, headed the United Front (a conglomeration of non-Congress and non-BJP regional parties) government from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997. He lost a trust motion 158-to-292 when the Congress again withdrew support to his government.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned twice after failing to prove majority during the trust vote. During his first stint as the prime minister in 1996, which lasted for just 13 days, Vajpayee resigned on the floor of the House before the confidence motion could be put to the vote after the BJP failed to muster enough support from other parties to obtain a majority.
After the fall of the two United Front governments between 1996 and 1998, the Lok Sabha was dissolved, and fresh elections were held. The BJP emerged as the largest party in the 1998 Lok Sabha polls and formed the government. Vajpayee was sworn in as the prime minister for the second time.
However, 13 months later, the AIADMK withdrew its support from the government forcing to Vajpayee to face another vote of confidence motion. This time, he lost the ensuing vote of confidence motion in the Lok Sabha by a single vote.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 19, 2018 02:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).