2008 vote of confidence in the Manmohan Singh ministry

Last updated November 13, 2024

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]

Before the vote

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

Votes for the Government	Votes against the Government	Undecided
United Progressive Alliance (226) Indian National Congress (153) Rashtriya Janata Dal (24) Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (16) Nationalist Congress Party (11) Pattali Makkal Katchi (6) Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (5) Lok Jan Shakti Party (4) Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Breakaway) (2) All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (1) People's Democratic Party (1) Republican Party of India (1) Sikkim Democratic Front (1) Indian Union Muslim League (1) Others (42) Samajwadi Party (37) Independent (3) Bharatiya Navshakti Party (1) National Loktantrik Party (1)	National Democratic Alliance (169) Bharatiya Janata Party (130) Shiv Sena (12) Biju Janata Dal (11) Janata Dal (United) (8) Shiromani Akali Dal (8) Left Front (59) Communist Party of India (Marxist) (43) Communist Party of India (10) All India Forward Bloc (3) Revolutionary Socialist Party (3) Left-Backed MPs (3) Kerala Congress (2) Janata Dal (Secular) (1) Independent (1) UNPA (8) Telugu Desam Party (5) Asom Gana Parishad (2) Independent (1) Others (24) Bahujan Samaj Party (17) Samajwadi Party (Breakaway) (2) Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (2) Telangana Rashtra Samithi (3)	Undecided (11) Mizo National Front (1) Nagaland People's Front (1) All India Trinamool Congress (1) Rashtriya Lok Dal (3) Janata Dal (Secular) (2) Independent (1) Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (2)

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]

Bhartiya Janata Party: Hari Singh Rathod and H.T. Sangliana.
Biju Janata Dal: Hari Har Swain
Janata Dal (United): Ramswaroop Prasad

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$12) 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.

The speaker of the house, Somnath Chatterjee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was expelled from his party on 23 July 2008.
The Bhartiya Janata Party expelled all its eight members who defied party guidelines by cross voting and abstentions during the vote of confidence. The leader of the party L. K. Advani also said that 22 July should go down as a black day in parliament history.^[16]
The Telugu Desam Party has reported that disciplinary action against two of its MPs, D. K. Adikesavulu Naidu and M. Jagannadham, would be taken as they voted in support of UPA government,^[17] though there were reports of abstention by Adikeshavalu Naidu.^[8]
The Biju Janata Dal expelled its MP, Harihara Swain for voting in favour of government.^[18]
The Shiromani Akali Dal has asked for an explanation from its MP who abstained from voting.^[18]

Animal sacrifice

It was reported that the Samajwadi Party MLA from Lanji Kishore Samrite sacrificed 319 animals – 302 goats, 17 buffaloes – in a 10-day-long yajna for appeasing the Goddess Kamakhya in order for UPA to win the trust vote. Samrite also offered another 'yajna' at Ugratara temple in the city and sacrificed two buffalos there.^[19] He spent about 17 lakh on the yajna, and self-confessed to have done it before several times, in distress.

External links to speeches

Related Research Articles

The Samajwadi Party is a socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. The Samajwadi Party is currently led by former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav. As of 2024, it is currently the third-largest political party in India, and the largest party in Uttar Pradesh.

Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar and Manipur and is a part of government in both the states. JD(U) heads the government in Bihar and is part of the NDA government in Manipur. JD(U) won 12 seats in the 2024 Indian general election, making it the seventh largest party in the Lok Sabha. JD(U) states that they believe in promoting social justice and lifting up marginalized peoples.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Janata Dal was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan under the leadership of V. P. Singh.

Somnath Chatterjee was an Indian politician who was associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for most of his life, though he had been a non affiliated independent during his last decade. He was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009.

The United Progressive Alliance was a political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party got the majority.

The Janata Dal (Secular) (transl. People's Party (Secular); abbr.JD(S)) is an Indian political party recognised as a state party in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh. It was founded by the former prime minister of India H. D. Deve Gowda in July 1999 as a breakaway faction from the Janata Dal.

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is a political party based primarily in the Indian state of Haryana. It was initially founded as the Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) by Devi Lal in 1996, who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India.

Rajesh Ranjan popularly known as Pappu Yadav, is an Indian politician from Bihar, and a member of Parliament (MP) representing Purnia constituency in Bihar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lok Janshakti Party</span> Defunct political party in India

The Lok Janshakti Party was a state political party mainly based in the state of Bihar, India. The party was formed in 2000 when Ram Vilas Paswan split from Janata Dal. The party had a considerable following amongst Dalits in Bihar. The party is factioned into two parties Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party.

Amar Singh was an Indian politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh. He was the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party and was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. On 6 January 2010, he resigned from all the posts of the Samajwadi Party and was later expelled from the party by its chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, on 2 February 2010.

General elections were held in India in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009 to elect the members of the fifteenth Lok Sabha. With an electorate of 716 million, it was the largest democratic election in the world until being surpassed by the 2014 general election.

General elections were held in India on 22 and 26 November 1989 to elect the members of the ninth Lok Sabha. The incumbent Indian National Congress (Indira) government under the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi lost its mandate, even though it was still the largest single party in the Lok Sabha. V. P. Singh, the leader of the second largest party Janata Dal was invited by the President of India to form the government. The government was formed with outside support from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist parties led by CPI(M). V. P. Singh was sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister of India on 2 December 1989.

General elections were held in India on 20 May, 12 June and 15 June 1991 to elect the members of the 10th Lok Sabha, although they were delayed until 19 February 1992 in Punjab.

General elections were held in India on 27 April, 2 May and 7 May 1996 to elect the members of the eleventh Lok Sabha.

The India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement was met with stiff opposition by some political parties and activists in India. Although many mainstream political parties including the Indian National Congress support the deal along with regional parties like Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Rashtriya Janata Dal its realisation has run into difficulties in the face of stiff political opposition in India. Also, in November 2007, former Indian Military chiefs, bureaucrats and scientists drafted a letter to Members of Parliament expressing their support for the deal. However, opposition and criticism continued at political levels. The Samajwadi Party (SP) which was with the Left Front in opposing the deal changed its stand after discussing with ex-president of India and scientist Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. Now the SP is in support of the government and the deal. The Indian Government survived a vote of confidence by 275-256 after the Left Front withdrew their support to the government over this dispute.

The cash-for-votes scandal was an Indian political scandal allegedly masterminded by then Bharatiya Janata Party politician Sudheendra Kulkarni in which the United Progressive Alliance, the majority-holding parliamentary-party alliance of India led by Sonia Gandhi, allegedly bribed Bhartiya Janta Party MPs in order to survive a confidence vote on 22 July 2008. The vote in the Lok Sabha arose after the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front withdrew support from the government, who wanted to pursue an Indo-US nuclear deal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Indian general election in Uttar Pradesh</span> 2009 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh

The 2009 Indian general election in Uttar Pradesh were held for 80 seats with the state going to polls across all the five phases of the general elections. The major contenders in the state were the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Indian National Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Fourth Front. NDA consisted of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal whereas the fourth front was constituted of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

The 2009 Indian general election in Bihar were held for 40 seats with the state going to polls in the first four phases of the general elections. The major contenders in the state were the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Indian National Congress and the Fourth Front. NDA consisted of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) whereas the fourth front was constituted of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

The 14th indirect presidential election, in order to elect the 13th President, was held in India on 19 July 2012. The last date for filing nominations was 30 June, whereas the votes would be counted on 22 July. The two leading candidates for the presidency were former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee from West Bengal and former Speaker of the Lok Sabha Purno Agitok Sangma from Meghalaya.

References

↑ "Indian government survives vote". BBC. 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
↑ Joshua, Anita (12 June 2008). "National : Small parties, independents in great demand". The Hindu . Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
↑ Lok Sabha Members Archived 31 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine Lok Sabha
↑ Sengupta, Somini (23 July 2007). "Indian Government Survives Confidence Vote". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
↑ Indian gov't wins trust vote in parliament Xinhua
↑ 275 not out ^{[ permanent dead link ]} Kashmir Times
↑ Post trust vote victory, India Govt. to move forward with reforms, nuclear deal Archived 21 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine International Business times
1 2 Abstentions and cross-voting... ^{[ dead link ]} Hindustan Times
↑ Gupta, Surojit (23 July 2008). "Government wins confidence vote". Reuters. Retrieved 5 December 2011.^{[ dead link ]}
↑ Agony and ecstasy for Amar, all in one day Hindustan Times
1 2 21 MPs cross-voted during Parliament trust motion Archived 11 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine Economic Times
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.
↑ Indian PM celebrates vote win, says millions will benefit Archived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine AFP
↑ "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.
↑ Parl panel exonerates Amar Singh in cash-for-votes scam Archived 25 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 16 September 2010.
↑ "BJP expels all rebel MPs who voted for UPA". Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
↑ "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.
1 2 "BJD, SAD cross-voters face expulsion". Sify . 23 July 2008. Archived from the original on 27 July 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
↑ "319 animals killed for UPA survival. Divinity?". Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2008.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Indian_government_survives_vote-1] "Indian government survives vote". BBC. 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2008.

[2] Joshua, Anita (12 June 2008). "National : Small parties, independents in great demand". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 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

[Indian_government_survives_confidence_vote-4] Sengupta, Somini (23 July 2007). "Indian Government Survives Confidence Vote". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. 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

[ht_abs-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.^{[ dead link ]}

[10] Agony and ecstasy for Amar, all in one day Hindustan Times

[et_21_MPs-11] 1 2 21 MPs cross-voted during Parliament trust motion Archived 11 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine Economic Times

[SINGH_IS_KING:_UPA_WINS_TRUST_VOTE-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

[CNN-IBN:_ready_to_submit_sting_material_to_Speaker-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 Archived 25 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine . 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.

[TDP_to_take_action_against_MPs_who_voted_for_UPA-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.

[BJD,_SAD_cross-voters_face_expulsion-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.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]