However, recent examples of defectors in Indian politics show that the law needs to be revised to fill in the gaps and strike a balance between the rights of legislators and the interests of legislative stability. While the anti-defection law has significantly curbed the political instability caused by the frequent and ungodly changes in allegiance of our country`s legislators, there is still a need for a simplified version of the anti-defector laws that will help establish a truly representative democracy. To combat the scourge of political defection, a committee was formed during the fourth Lok Sabha in 1967 under the chairmanship of Y.B. Chavan. This committee presented a report in 1968, which led to a first attempt to introduce legislation to combat overflow in Parliament. Although the opposition supported the bill, the government, then led by Indira Gandhi, referred it for consideration by a special joint committee; He did not leave the committee until all other legislative proposals were declared invalid by subsequent elections. [6] The amended Legislation stated that a member disqualified for defection should not hold ministerial or other gainful political office until the end of his or her term as a member. The amended 2003 Act excluded the provisions of the Tenth Schedule relating to the approval of defectors resulting from divisions. [22] The amended law also stipulated that the number of ministers in the states and union territories should not exceed fifteen percent of the total number of members in the respective chamber. [21] Violation of the law in any of these scenarios may result in a legislator being sanctioned for defection. The presidents of the legislature (spokesman, president) are the decisive authorities in such cases.
The Supreme Court has ruled that legislators can challenge their decisions before the high judiciary. The reforms proposed by various bodies – including the Law Commission, the Electoral Commission, the National Constitutional Review Commission, the Dinesh Goswami Committee on Electoral Reform and the Halim Committee for the Anti-Defector Law – can be read under the following headings. [23] „The 52nd Constitution Amendment Act contained the evil of political overflow and made India`s political system more stable.” Analyze critically. A law has been sought to limit these frequent defectors in India. In 1985, the tenth annex of the 52. Amendment to the Indian Constitution adopted by the Indian Parliament to achieve this. On the recommendation of many constitutional bodies, Parliament passed the Ninety-one Amendment to the Indian Constitution in 2003. This strengthened the law by adding provisions on the disqualification of defectors and prohibiting them from being appointed ministers for a certain period of time.
[2] For a very long time, the Indian political system was affected by the political defections of members of the legislature. This situation has led to greater instability and chaos in the political system. This article is based on Revolving door: On Manipur politics published in The Hindu on 20/06/2020. He talks about the defection policy in India and the associated challenges in anti-defection laws. The decision on matters of disqualification due to defection shall be referred to the Speaker or Speaker of the Chamber and its decision shall be final. The Supreme Court of Calcutta has set Thursday, October 7 as the deadline for West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee to issue an order in the case of the defection of MP Mukul Roy. He ran and won the 2021 general election on a BJP ticket, and then joined the Trinamool Congress. BJP MP Suvendu Adhikari, the opposition leader in the Assembly, asked the president to disqualify Roy and two other BJP MPs to join the Trinamool Congress. These petitions fall under the tenth schedule of the Constitution, i.e.
the anti-defection law. The Anti-Defector Act, enshrined in the Indian Constitution by the introduction of the Tenth Schedule, consists of 8 paragraphs. Below is a brief summary of the content of the law: To curb the evil of political defectors, the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act to Combat Defection was passed in 1985 and the 10th Annex was incorporated into the Indian Constitution. Faced with the rise of public opinion in favour of an anti-defector law, Rajiv Gandhi proposed the new anti-defector law to parliament immediately after obtaining a clear majority in 1984. After marathon debates, the Lok Sabha and rajya Sabha voted unanimously in favour of the bill on 30 and 31 January 1985, respectively. [7] The Bill received the approval of the President on February 15, 1985, and the Act came into force on March 18, 1985. [8] The law established the procedure for disqualification of an elected member for the remainder of the term who had defected either by resignation or contempt for the party leadership and absence in a decisive vote. However, the law allowed mergers and divisions of political parties, so splits within the party by one-third of its members and merger (joining another party) by two-thirds of the other party members were allowed. Experts felt that defectors should not only be considered in terms of numbers and should be seen in the context of how these political defectors undermine the mandate of the people.
But Ashoke Sen justified the act of allowing mass defectors by calling it the release of lawmakers from „chains of obscurantism and orthodox politics.” [6] Recently,[When?] Sachin Pilot and his deputies (from rajasthan constituency to Congress) applied to the Supreme Court and challenged the anti-defector law; The conclusion that the provision should not jeopardize a Member`s fundamental freedom of speech and expression. They also called for Article 2(1)(a), which is declared ultra vires (outside the scope) of the basic structure of the Constitution, and freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a). Between 1957 and 1967, Congress (I) became the sole beneficiary of the defectors. It lost 98 of its lawmakers but gained 419, while those who left other parties and did not join Congress (I) formed new separate parties, with the aim of exercising power through a coalition government in the future, rather than joining established governments. This situation gave Congress (I) a strong grip on power. In the 1967 elections, approximately 3,500 members were elected to the legislatures of various states and union territories; Of these elected representatives, about 550 of their parent parties later defected, and some politicians crossed the floor more than once. [5] The anti-defector law recently made headlines when the Calcutta Supreme Court called on west Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee to pass a defector case involving Mukul Roy (a state deputy). Learn all about this law here and how it works for the benefit of the Indian Constitution and democracy in the following article.
In India, there have been many cases of defectors. Many MPs and MPs have changed parties. In Jharkhand, former CM Babulal Marandi is also facing a tenth trial scheduled after merging his party, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), with the BJP. We hope that the above explanation will explain a lot about the law to readers. However, the law does not bind lawmakers to their political parties forever. The legislator may change parties without risk of disqualification in various specified circumstances. This law allows the party to merge with another if 2/3 of the members accept this merger. None of the members will be charged with defection in such a case. In other cases, if a person has been elected president and has had to resign from his or her party for that reason, he or she may join the party when he or she leaves that position. The anti-defector law punishes MPs who leave one party for another. It allows a group of MPs/MPs to join another political party (i.e. merge with it) without claiming punishment for defection.
And it does not punish political parties for encouraging or accepting flawed lawmakers. Parliament included it in the Constitution in 1985 as the tenth calendar. Its aim was to bring stability to governments by discouraging lawmakers from changing parties. It was a reaction to the overthrow of several state governments by MPs who were skipping the party after the 1967 parliamentary elections. In Jharkhand, former CM Babulal Marandi is facing such a trial after merging his party, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), with the BJP. In Rajasthan, six MPs from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) merged their legislative party with the ruling Congress, a decision challenged by the BSP, and the Supreme Court recently gave the six MPs a final opportunity to declare the merger. In Lok Sabha, two Trinamool deputies and a YSR Congress party are on trial. The Trinamool Congress wants to disqualify its two MPs (one of them is Sisir Adhikari, Suvendu`s father) to join the BJP, and the YSRCP wants to disqualify its MP for „anti-party activities”.
The law does not provide for a time limit within which the president must rule on a defection case. There have been many cases where a spokesperson has not determined the case of a Member expiring before the end of the legislature. .