So far, there have been only eight instances of motion of confidence being discussed in the 58-year history of the Karnataka Legislature and this includes the one held on October 11. Interestingly, there have been no instances of motion of confidence during the first 31 years of the history of the State Legislature.
Never in the annals of the legislature has there been a repeat trust vote - that is two motions of confidence being taken up by the same Chief Minister within a matter of days.Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa by accepting Governor H R Bhardwaj’s offer of providing one more chance to prove his majority in the Assembly has set a new precedent.
First trust vote in 1985
According to records maintained by the legislature secretariat, the first motion of confidence was sought in the seventh Legislative Assembly by the then chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde on January 1, 1985.
The second was in the ninth Assembly by the then chief minister S Bangarappa on January 25, 1990.
Bangarappa had sought the trust vote to spike allegations that a majority of Congress legislators had rebelled against him and had sought a leadership change. He won the trust vote.
The third was on January 27, 1998 in the tenth Assembly by the then chief minister J H Patel.
The motion was adopted by the House.
Quell rumours
Patel had moved the motion to dispel rumours that 45 MLAs of the then undivided Janata Dal had identified with Ramakrishna Hegde’s Navanirmana Vedike.
So far, no motion of confidence has been defeated on the floor of the House.
On November 19, 2007, Yeddyurappa, getting to know that his coalition partner, the JD(S), had decided to vote against the motion announced his resignation on the floor of the House even before voting was held.