LS in disorder, Speaker declines to take up no-confidence motion

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 16

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Friday declined to take up the no-confidence motion against the government moved by the TDP and YSR Congress citing disorder in the House.

The motion notice was not admitted and would have to be moved afresh as the Speaker adjourned the Lok Sabha till Monday.

YSR Congress submitted their notices for the motion to the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Thursday. The TDP moved a fresh notice on Friday morning after pulling out of the NDA alliance.

Both parties have expressed no-confidence in the BJP for its inability to give special status to Andhra Pradesh.
As per rules of the Lok Sabha, the House has to be in order for the no-confidence motion to be taken up.

On Friday, the AIADMK members stormed the Well seeking the establishment of a tribunal for the Cauvery Water Dispute.

The Speaker mentioned the no-confidence notices but said she could not take these up unless order was restored in the House.

Thereafter she adjourned the House for Monday.

A no-confidence motion notice can be moved by a single MP. Once the Speaker takes note of it she asks the mover to show support of 50 members in the house. If 50 MPs stand the motion it is admitted and taken up.

The BJP has 275 MPs in the house of 536, including the Speaker, and can come out unscathed from the no-confidence vote. The Congress on Friday slammed the BJP for stalling the motion saying the Government is afraid to even listen to why the motion is being moved.

“The Government has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha and the motion won’t be carried, everyone knows. But the government doesn’t want people to even hear as to why the motion has been brought. They can pass the Finance Bill in din but want an excuse to defer a no-confidence motion. What are they afraid of?” asked Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.