Cut Motion Defeated In Parliament

The UPA Government passed its first test before its first anniversary, as it defeated the cut motion moved by the Opposition in Lok Sabha today. The National Democratic Alliance and Left parties, protesting against Budget proposals of rising fuel and fertilizer prices, failed to build a majority enough for the motion to be passed, thereby giving the UPA a comprehensive victory.

The cut motion on the Ministry of Petroleum, moved by Sushma Swaraj after nearly an hour after the Lok Sabha reconvened at 6pm today, was defeated after a voice vote. 246 MPs voted against the motion, and 162 voted in its favour.

The UPA government, already at the half-way 272 mark, had its job cut out as Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Mulayam's Samajwadi Party (SP) remained non-committal on the cut motion issue, and abstained from voting. Help also came from Mayawati, who announced that her party BSP will not just abstain from voting but will actually support the government during the cut motion.

A Cut Motion is a veto used by members of a legislature against a specific allocation in Budget proposals - in today's case, the proposals to hike prices of fuel and fertilisers. This motion tests the strength of the government in the House. If it is adopted, it amounts to a no-confidence vote, and the government falls.

Leaders of the non-UPA and the non-NDA parties said yesterday that they will go ahead with the cut motion, but that their intention was not to bring the government down. The Congress, for its part, was sure the Opposition would not go to the extent of pulling down the government, given that no party is prepared for a general election so soon after last year’s polls, but is trying to ensure that the numbers are in its favour when the Finance Bill is put to vote.