UPA wins trust vote by 275 to 256

New Delhi: On a tumultuous day in Indian politics, speeches good and bad, drama over cash bribes for votes, the UPA Government won the vote of confidence in Parliament.

In electronic voting, it got 253 votes in favour, 232 against it and abstentions were two. A total of 487 members participated in the electronic trust vote.

There was considerable confusion in Parliament after a day of high drama.

Apparently many members had either not voted properly or had waited to do manual voting that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said would follow.

It was later announced that 54 votes were still to be counted, including four members who voted in the inner lobby.

They included former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who could not be present in the chamber because of illness.

At precisely 8.26 p.m., Chatterjee announced the results of the division vote in which the UPA Government secured 275 votes in their favour, and the opposition secured 256. Eleven people did not vote.

Chatterjee then adjourned the proceedings sine die.

Members of Parliament began crowding around a smiling Prime Minister and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to congratulate them after the result was announced. (ANI with inputs)

ANI