On Friday, the no-confidence motion is being discussed against the ruling BJP led-NDA government. During the ongoing session, Biju Janata Dal(BJD) MPs walked out of the Lok Sabha, thus abstaining from voting for or against the ruling party.
Earlier in the week Speaker of Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan announced that Friday will be reserved to discuss the no-trust motion.
On a similar note, Shiv Sena has declared to not attend today’s session. Shiv Sena contributes 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha. There was news that Shiv Sena will be voting in favour of the government and a notice was issued by the party to all its MPs to attend today’s proceedings. But today the party refused to be a part of the discussion. “We are boycotting parliamentary work today and haven’t even signed our attendance,” said Anandrao Adsul, a lawmaker of Shiv Sena.
After BJD’s walkout and Shiv Sena’s absence, the number of MPs in the Lower House has reduced to 497. As BJP is in majority in the Lok Sabha, the party will easily defeat the no-confidence motion. It now requires 268 votes in order to prove majority.
It is been speculated that several regional parties might abstain from voting as well.
The opposition apart from TDP which moved the motion against the ruling government includes– Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party(SP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) aka CPI(M).