Several media organisations and social media users are claiming that gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed's vote "saved" the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during a vote of confidence in the Parliament in 2008.
Who shared this claim?: News agency PTI, media organisations India Today, Firstpost, NDTV and English Jagran claimed that Ahmed's vote "saved" the UPA government in 2008, citing a book Baahubalis of Indian Politics: From Bullet to Ballot as their source.
(Note: Swipe to view all claims.)
PTI published a report with the claim.
(Source: PTI/Screenshot)
English Jagran later took down their article and issued a correction.
About Atiq Ahmed: The claim comes days after Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on 15 April.
The attack took place in the presence of police personnel and the press after the two were being taken for a court-mandated medical check-up.
The assailants – Lavlesh Tiwari, Mohit alias Shani Purane and Arun Kumar Maurya – surrendered after the attack and have been sent to 14-day judicial custody.
Did Atiq Ahmed's vote save the UPA government?: No, the claim is false.
As per a document available in the Parliament Digital Library on the 2008 vote of confidence, Atiq Ahmed was one of six Samajwadi Party leaders who voted against the UPA government.
How did we find out?: Using relevant keywords, we looked for news reports about the vote of confidence.
This led us a to the archive of an article published by The Indian Express in July 2008, which mentioned that six members of Parliament (MP) belonging to the Samajwadi Party had been expelled for defying the party whip during the trust vote.
The six MPs expelled were Jai Prakash, SP Singh Baghel, Afzal Ansari, Munawwar Hasan, Raj Narain Budholia and Atiq Ahmed.
An archive of a 2008 article by Hindustan Times corroborated this information.
What about Parliament records?: We checked the Parliament Digital Library for records related to the trust vote in 2008.
Here, we came across a document titled 'Further discussion on the motion of confidence in the Council of Minister moved by Dr. Manmohan Singh on the 21st July, 2008' which mentioned the names of those voting for and against the UPA government.
Page 112 of this document listed the 'Noes', people who had voted against the government during the motion.
Among the top ten names on this list was Atiq Ahmed, confirming that Ahmed had voted against the UPA and not in support of the government.
What happened in 2008?: The India-US civilian nuclear agreement was signed in 2005.
However, Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement was signed on 10 October 2008.
The agreement was signed after a parliamentary vote of confidence where the votes came after several allegations of MPs being offered bribes or cabinet posts.
Conclusion: Atiq Ahmed had voted against the UPA government during a vote of confidence in 2008 and could not have "saved" them, as claimed.
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