2008 vote of confidence in the Manmohan Singh ministry

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Manmohansingh04052007.jpg
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the governing alliance in India elected in 2004, faced its first confidence vote in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) on 22 July 2008 after the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front withdrew support over India approaching the IAEA for the Indo-US nuclear deal. The vote was so crucial that the UPA and the opposition parties summoned MPs from their sick beds and even from prison cells to take part in the vote, which was eventually won by the Government. [1]

Contents

Before the vote

The following list indicates the official position of the political parties before the voting. [2]

Votes for the GovernmentVotes against the GovernmentUndecided
United Progressive Alliance (226)

Others (42)

 National Democratic Alliance (169)

Left Front (59)

Left-Backed MPs (3)

UNPA (8)

Others (24)

Undecided (11)

UPA and supporters: 268 MPs for the government
NDA and others: 263 MPs against the government
Undecided: 11 MPs
Non-voting: 1 MP

Voting

In the 543 member Lok Sabha, the UPA needed 272 votes for the government to enjoy a simple majority. [3] The UPA won the confidence vote with 275 votes to the opposition's 256, (10 members abstained from the vote) to record a 19-vote victory. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Abstentions

Ten members abstained from the voting despite some of them having received strict contrary instructions from their parties. [8] [9] Among the 10, 2 MPs followed their party decision of abstaining so as to not be seen as supporting the UPA or the BJP, Left led opposition. Those two were:

The other eight members who abstained defied their party stand. These eight were:

Cross voting

The seven members of the UPA who cross-voted against the government were:

Conversely, there were at least four members of the opposition who cross-voted in favour of the government proposal. These 4 were [11]

Allegations of bribery

Three BJP MPs – Ashok Argal (Morena), Faggan Singh Kulaste (Mandla) and Mahavir Bhagora (Salumber) amidst discussion walked towards the Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and placed two brown and black leather bags on a table. They pulled out bundles of ₹1,000 (US$13) and alleged that Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh had tried to offer them bribe to vote in favour of the government. [12] The BJP MP Kulaste, alleged that Amar Singh and Congress leader Ahmed Patel, an aide to Sonia Gandhi tried to offer bribe of ₹90 million (US$1.1 million) to remain absent from the confidence vote. Amar Singh denied the charges. [12] Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked the police chief of New Delhi to investigate the bribery issue. [13] Indian news channel CNN IBN which carried out the sting operation by recording using hidden cameras agreed to share the material with Indian authorities. [14] A joint parliamentary committee formed to investigate the issue submitted its report to the Lok Sabha on 15 December 2008, after finding no evidence for bribery against the MPs Amar Singh and Ahmad Patel, thereby exonerating them. [15]

Expulsions

As a result of not obeying the instructions issued by their political parties, many MPs were expelled as an aftermath of the vote.

Animal sacrifice

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References

  1. ↑ "Indian government survives vote". BBC. 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  2. ↑ "National : Small parties, independents in great demand". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 12 July 2008. Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  3. ↑ Lok Sabha Members Archived 31 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine Lok Sabha
  4. ↑ Sengupta, Somini (23 July 2007). "Indian Government Survives Confidence Vote". The New York Times . Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  5. ↑ Indian gov't wins trust vote in parliament Xinhua
  6. ↑ 275 not out [ permanent dead link ] Kashmir Times
  7. ↑ Post trust vote victory, India Govt. to move forward with reforms, nuclear deal Archived 21 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine International Business times
  8. 1 2 Abstentions and cross-voting... [ dead link ] Hindustan Times
  9. ↑ Gupta, Surojit (23 July 2008). "Government wins confidence vote". Reuters. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  10. ↑ Agony and ecstasy for Amar, all in one day Hindustan Times
  11. 1 2 21 MPs cross-voted during Parliament trust motion Economic Times
  12. 1 2 "SINGH IS KING: UPA WINS TRUST VOTE". CNN IBN. 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  13. ↑ Indian PM celebrates vote win, says millions will benefit Archived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine AFP
  14. ↑ "CNN-IBN: ready to submit sting material to Speaker". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 23 July 2008. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  15. ↑ Parl panel exonerates Amar Singh in cash-for-votes scam. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
  16. ↑ "BJP expels all rebel MPs who voted for UPA". Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  17. ↑ "TDP to take action against MPs who voted for UPA". The Times of India . 23 July 2008. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  18. 1 2 "BJD, SAD cross-voters face expulsion". Sify . 23 July 2008. Archived from the original on 27 July 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  19. ↑ "319 animals killed for UPA survival. Divinity?". Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
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