Motions and resolutions: from debate to confidence

Detail

1. What a motion is

• A motion is a formal proposal by a member. It asks the House to do something, order something, or give its opinion on a matter [5].
• It must be worded so that, if passed, it states the will of the House [4][5].
• Basic rule: no matter of general public importance can be discussed except on a motion.

• In the Rajya Sabha, this is set out in Rules 167-174. The motion also needs the Chairman's consent [4].

• How a House reaches a decision [5]:

• a member moves the motion;
• the Chair proposes the question;
• members debate it;

• the Chair puts the question and collects the voices ("Ayes"/"Noes").

• Withdrawal: a member can withdraw a motion only with the leave of the House. If even one member objects, the motion is put to vote [5].

2. Kinds of motions

Kind	Meaning	Examples
Substantive motion	A complete, self-contained proposal that does not depend on any other motion	Impeaching the President; removing the Chief Election Commissioner; electing the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman; the Motion of Thanks [5]
Substitute motion	Moved in place of the original motion and offers a different version of it	A government substitute motion on a policy debate
Subsidiary motion	Depends on another motion and helps the House deal with it [4][5]	Amendments; dilatory motions
Amendment (a type of subsidiary motion)	Changes the main motion by adding, leaving out or replacing words [5]	"…but regret that the Address does not mention…"

• Rules on amendments [5]:
• An amendment must be relevant to the main motion.
• An amendment that only has the effect of a "No" vote is not allowed.

• Notice must be given at least one day before the motion is taken up, unless the Chairman waives this.

• Dilatory motion (a motion to delay): it asks the House to adjourn the debate and so puts the business off. If the Chair thinks it is an abuse of the rules, the Chair may refuse it or put it to vote at once without debate [5].

• Conduct of high officials: the conduct of persons in high authority can be discussed only on a substantive motion in proper terms [5].
• Not every motion goes to vote. A motion that a policy or situation "be taken into consideration" is only a way to hold a discussion. It is generally not put to vote [5].

3. Closure motions: ending a debate

A closure motion cuts a debate short so that the matter goes straight to vote. It has four forms:

• Simple closure: a member moves "that the question be now put". If the House agrees, debate ends and the vote follows.
• Closure by compartments: the clauses of a bill are grouped into parts. Each group is debated and voted on as a whole, not clause by clause.
• Kangaroo closure: only the important clauses are taken up for debate and vote. The rest are skipped and treated as passed. Like a kangaroo, the House "jumps" over them.
• Guillotine: at a fixed time, all clauses or demands not yet discussed are put to vote together, without debate (Section 8).
• Limit on abuse: a member who ends their own speech by moving closure would probably be treated as abusing the rules [5].

4. Motion of Thanks (Art. 87)

• Art. 87: the President makes a special address to both Houses together at the start of:
• the first session after each general election;

• the first session of every year (usually the Budget session) [4].

• Procedure:

• one member moves the Motion of Thanks and another seconds it [4];
• members debate the Address and may move amendments;
• the Prime Minister replies;

• the amendments are decided first, and then the motion is put to vote [6].

• Form of an amendment: "…but regret that the Address does not mention / fails to mention…". Amendments may cover what the Address says or what it leaves out [6].

• In the Lok Sabha: defeat of the Motion of Thanks would mean defeat of the government, because it shows the government has lost the House's confidence.
• In the Rajya Sabha: the motion was adopted in amended form on five occasions [4]:
• 30 January 1980 (the first time);
• 29 December 1989 (with six amendments);
• 12 March 2001;
• 3 March 2015;

• 9 March 2016.

• An amended motion in the Rajya Sabha only shows that the government lacks a majority there. It does not bring the government down, because ministers answer to the Lok Sabha (Art. 75(3)) [4][6].

5. Adjournment motion (Lok Sabha only, Rules 56-63)

• Meaning: it sets aside the normal business of the House to discuss a definite matter of urgent public importance.
• Conditions:
• it needs the support of 50 members;
• the matter must be definite, factual, urgent and of public importance;
• it must not be sub judice (pending before a court);

• the debate lasts at least 2½ hours.

• Why the Rajya Sabha does not have it: passing it implies censure (formal blame) of the government. Only the Lok Sabha can hold the government collectively responsible. So the adjournment motion, the no-confidence motion and the censure motion are admissible only in the Lok Sabha [4].

6. Suspension of business: Rajya Sabha Rule 267

• Meaning: a member moves that the rules be suspended for that day, so that the listed business can be set aside to discuss an urgent matter. It needs the Chairman's consent.
• Wider use: the same power lets the House set aside other rules too.

• Example (1990): a motion to suspend Rule 228 was adopted so that a bill extending President's rule in Punjab could be taken up [5].

• Rarely admitted:

• Notices are filed on almost every sitting day.
• Yet the Chairman observed (2024) that Rule 267 had been allowed only about six times in 36 years, and only in exceptional cases [7].

7. Censure motion vs no-confidence motion

Feature	Censure motion	No-confidence motion
House	Lok Sabha only [4]	Lok Sabha only (Rule 198)
Reasons	Must state reasons	No reasons needed [3]
Target	Whole Council of Ministers, one minister or a group	Whole Council of Ministers only
Support needed	Must be admitted by the Speaker	50 members [2][3]
If passed	Government need not resign, but must answer the charges	Whole government must resign (Art. 75(3))

8. No-confidence motion (Rule 198)

• Wording: "That this House expresses its want of confidence in the Council of Ministers" [3].
• Steps:
• at least 50 members support the motion when it is moved in the Lok Sabha [3];
• the Speaker fixes a date, which should normally be within 10 days [3];
• the House debates it;

• the House votes. If a majority supports it, the Council of Ministers must resign under Art. 75(3) (collective responsibility: all ministers stand or fall together).

• The support needed was earlier 30 MPs (1952). It was later raised to 50 [2].

• History:
• First motion (1963): moved by J.B. Kripalani against Nehru. The debate ran 21 hours over 4 days, and 40 MPs took part [2].
• 1964-1975: 15 motions were debated (3 against Lal Bahadur Shastri and 12 against Indira Gandhi). Three more came against Indira Gandhi in 1981-82 [2].
• 1979: Y.B. Chavan moved a motion against Morarji Desai. Desai resigned after a 9-hour debate, before the vote. This is the only government to fall on a no-confidence motion, but the motion itself was never carried [2].
• 1987: the motion against Rajiv Gandhi was defeated by voice vote [2].
• 1993: P.V. Narasimha Rao survived by 14 votes. This vote was later linked to the JMM bribery case [2].
• 2003: the motion against Vajpayee was defeated. The next one came only in 2018, after a 15-year gap [2].
• 2018: defeated 126-325.

• 2023: moved on 26 July 2023 and discussed from 8 August 2023, 13 days after it was moved [3]. It failed by voice vote on 10 August 2023.

• Count: 28 no-confidence motions had been discussed up to and including the 2023 motion. None has ever been carried by vote [3].

9. Confidence motion

• Meaning: the government moves it to prove that it has a majority. This is sometimes done on the President's direction after an unclear election result or a split in the ruling coalition.
• If it is defeated, the government must resign, just as when a no-confidence motion passes (Art. 75(3)) [3].
• Count: 11 confidence motions had been discussed up to 2023. Most came in the 1990s, the era of coalition governments [3].
• Key cases:
• Charan Singh (1979): resigned without facing a confidence vote.
• V.P. Singh (1990): lost.
• H.D. Deve Gowda (1997): lost.
• A.B. Vajpayee (1999): lost by one vote (269-270).
• Manmohan Singh (2008): won the vote, which followed the Left's withdrawal of support over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

10. Resolutions

• Meaning: a resolution is a substantive motion in which the House states its opinion, recommendation or decision.
• Every question that the House agrees to becomes either a resolution or an order [4].

• All resolutions are put to vote.

• Three kinds [4]:

• Private members' resolution: moved by a member who is not a minister. It is taken up on alternate Fridays, in turn with private members' bills.
• Government resolution: moved by a minister.

• Statutory resolution: moved under a provision of the Constitution or an Act of Parliament.

• Examples of statutory resolutions:

• approving a proclamation of National Emergency (Art. 352) or of President's rule (Art. 356);
• disapproving an ordinance under Art. 123(2)(a). An ordinance (a law made by the President when Parliament is not sitting) ends if both Houses pass resolutions disapproving it. Otherwise it ends six weeks after Parliament reassembles.
  • Instance (1991): a statutory resolution disapproving the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, 1991 was moved and later withdrawn in the Rajya Sabha [5].

• the August 2019 resolution:

  • Parliament recommended that the provisions of Art. 370 be made inoperative (Art. 370(3));
  • the President then issued a notification making Art. 370 inoperative [8].

• Motion vs resolution:

• Every resolution is a motion, but not every motion is a resolution.

• Not every motion goes to vote, as with "take into consideration" motions [5].

• The privilege motion is covered in Section 11.

Prelims Hooks

• The Motion of Thanks is linked to Art. 87. The Rajya Sabha adopted it in amended form 5 times (1980, 1989, 2001, 2015, 2016). This did not bring the government down.
• Adjournment, censure and no-confidence motions can be moved only in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha's nearest tool is the Rule 267 suspension of business.
• No-confidence motion: Rule 198, 50 members, no reasons needed, normally taken up within 10 days. A censure motion must state reasons.
• First no-confidence motion: J.B. Kripalani vs Nehru (1963). No motion has ever been carried. Morarji Desai (1979) resigned before the vote.
• Trap: Vajpayee lost a confidence motion (269-270, 1999), not a no-confidence motion.
• Kangaroo closure = only key clauses are debated and the rest are treated as passed. Closure by compartments = clauses are grouped and each group is debated and voted as a whole.
• Statutory resolution example: disapproving an ordinance under Art. 123(2)(a). This needs resolutions passed by both Houses.
• Art. 75(3) = the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha only.

Mains Points

• Accountability is weak in practice.
• No no-confidence motion has ever been carried, because governments with stable majorities defeat them easily.

• Their real value is the debate. They force the government to answer, as in 2018 and 2023, and in 2023 the debate was held 13 days after the motion was moved [3].

• The Rajya Sabha's limited tools.

• Rule 267 notices are filed almost daily but admitted only about 6 times in 36 years [7]. This leads to walkouts and disruption.

• Reform: set clear rules for admitting notices, or give the Rajya Sabha a fixed time for short-duration discussions.

• Coalition-era instability (1989-1999).

• Confidence motions decided the fate of several governments (V.P. Singh, Deve Gowda, Vajpayee).

• Reform: a constructive vote of no-confidence, as in Germany, where the House must name an alternative PM before removing the current one.

• Statutory resolutions as legislative control.

• They let Parliament approve or reject Emergencies, President's rule and ordinances.
• But the 2019 Art. 370 resolution showed how much rests on a simple majority.