In 1999, AIADMK led by CM J Jayalalitha, walked out of NDA and forced a non-confidence motion in Lok Sabha
A no-confidence motion that brought down the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee by just one vote in 1999 haunts the Narendra Modi government. While his mentor Vajpayee lost the confidence of Lok Sabha by one vote, Modi will survive by virtue of having a thumping majority in the House.
In an action replay, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) stormed out of the ruling alliance and fired a no-confidence motion on Friday, a day after rival YSR Congress Party gave a similar notice. Both the parties are agitating over Centre's denial to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh to compensate its losses from the bifurcation of the state in 2014.
Similarly in 1999, AIADMK, led by then mercurial chief minister J Jayalalitha, walked out of the NDA and forced a non-confidence motion. Vajpayee thus became the only prime minister to have lost a confidence vote twice and also the one having lost with the smallest margin.
The last time such a motion was debated in the Parliament was when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) itself moved a confidence vote in July 2008 after the Left Front withdrew support over 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 with 269 favouring and 263 opposing the motion. Some 11 MPs remained undecided while one didn't vote.
The debate had seen high drama when three BJP MPs — Ashok Argal (Morena), Faggan Singh Kulaste (Mandla) and Mahavir Bhagora (Salumber) — walked towards the Speaker and pulled out bundles of notes alleging that Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh had tried to offer bribe to them to vote in favour of the government. Amar Singh had denied the charges. 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.
The last no-trust motion was moved in 2003 by Congress' Sonia Gandhi against the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which was defeated in Parliament. The motion was defeated by 314 to 189 votes.
In the first two Lok Sabhas, no such motion was admitted. The first no-confidence motion in the history of Lok Sabha was moved by socialist Acharya Kripalani against Jawahar Lal Nehru in August of 1963. The second prime minister of independent India Lal Bahadur Shashtri faced three no-confidence motions — one in 1964 and two during 1965 — and without much trouble all three got defeated. Interestingly, the government led by Indira Gandhi faced a record 15 no-confidence motions.
But what will be remembered most is the fall of Vajpayee government in 1999. On April 17, 1999 the Union government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee lost the confidence motion in Lok Sabha by a single vote. It was the narrowest defeat in a confidence motion in the history. The lone vote was attributed to defection of Prof Saifudin Soz from ally National Conference (NC) and also to then Odisha chief minister Giridhar Gamang, who had been the chief minister since two months and yet came to vote in the House as he had not resigned from his Lok Sabha seat.
The government led by Rajiv Gandhi faced one trust of vote moved by C Madhav Reddy, in 1987, but the motion was defeated by voice-vote. PV Narsimha Rao faced three no-confidence motions during his tenure (1991-96) as the prime minister. The no-confidence motion requires support of 50 members to be admitted. So far, 13 confidence motions have been discussed in the Lok Sabha, in which five PMs have resigned from their post.
In 2015 Gamang, quit Congress and joined the BJP.
SINGLE-VOTE MARK
- In 1999, AIADMK led by CM J Jayalalitha, walked out of NDA and forced a non-confidence motion in Lok Sabha.
- Vajpayee lost the confidence motion in Lok Sabha by a single vote. It was the narrowest defeat in a confidence motion in the history.
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 "Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee (L) with senior BJP leader LK Advani")
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