The government of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today won the vote of confidence, which he had moved yesterday by a 19-vote margin.

A division was sought, which Lok sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee granted, at the insistence of the opposition, which rejected the result of the voice vote.

At the time of going to press,  the electronic board displayed 275 members having voted in favour of the motion of confidence with 256 against, and 10 abstentions.

The result of the vote of confidence left the Congress, its UPA allies, including new ally Samajwadi Party that had stepped in to support the government after the Left walked out, jubilant, while the opposition BJP and its NDA allies and the Left parties appeared dejected at having been unable to bring down the government.

The confidence motion was put to vote by Lok Sabha speaker after prime minister Manmohan Singh's concluding speech was interrupted due to heckling by opposition parliamentarians over bribery charges.

The voting was both automated and manual, to avoid counting errors.

Soon after the results were declared, the prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were surrounded by members eager to congratulate them.

The confidence motion was put to vote by Lok Sabha speaker after prime minister Manmohan Singh's concluding speech was interrupted in due to heckling by opposition lawmakers over bribery charges.

The voting followed high drama in the Lok Sabha with BJP member, Ashok Argal, flashed wads of currency notes, claiming Rs1 crore was given to him by an Samajwadi Party leader as "advance" for abstaining from today's trust vote.

Argal, BJP MP from Morena was surrounded by his party colleagues while he opened a black leather bag displaying bundles of currency notes in the midst of the debate on the confidence motion,

This was followed by members from both sides trading charges and crowding in the well. The opposition members shouted ''shame, shame'' and ''chor hai, chor hai'' and accused the government of indulging in horse trading.

The proceeding had to be adjourned thrice before the confidence motion was finally put to vote.

Besides Argal, two other BJP members - Mahavir Bhagora and Fagan Singh Kulste – also alleged that money was offered to them. They alleged that an SP leader promised three of them Rs3 crore each, of which Rs1 crore was paid in advance.

The vote of confidence was necessiated by the Left front allies withdrawing their support to the government on 9 July over the nuclear deal and the BJP alleging that the government had been reduced to a minority and therfore could not sign the nuclear safeguards agreement with the IAEA.