Parliamentary voting: Options and how it works

There are three ways in which voting is taken in Parliament, the most common being a ‘vote by voice’. In this, the Speaker puts the question to the House and asks those in favour of a resolution to say ‘aye’ and those against to say ‘no’. If the Speaker feels that the opinion of the House is sufficiently and clearly expressed, he could announce it to the House. If a Member is not satisfied with the decision of the Speaker, he may ask for a division.

In case someone seeks a division, a ‘vote by name’ is taken. In this, the Secretary-General asks each member separately how he desires to vote and records the votes accordingly. After counting the votes, the Secretary-General presents the results to the Speaker who then declares the result of the division. If votes are equal, the Speaker can cast his vote and declare the result.

By a resolution of Parliament since July 2017, a division in Parliament has been taken using the Electronic Voting System. MPs seated at the seat allocated to them in the House can vote either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ using the voting equipment on their table, which immediately gets displayed on the widescreen in the Chamber.

The third voting option is ‘vote by rising’ where the Speaker calls on Members to rise in their place row by row, first asking those for the motion to rise and then those against it to rise. The Secretary-General of Parliament counts and reports the result to the Speaker who announces it to the House.