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HOLLOWING OF ANTI-DEFECTION LAW
Why in the News?
- Current Situation in Maharashtra Assembly regarding disqualification petitions involves political defections and India’s anti-defection law.
Source: IJRPR
Source: IJRPRAbout Anti-Defection Law :
- Enacted under the Tenth Schedule, it aims to curb frequent floor-crossing by legislators.
- Legislators face disqualification if they switch parties or vote against party directions.
- Exceptions exist, such as a two-thirds majority agreeing to “merge” with another party.
Challenges and Misuse:
- Loophole : Survey reveals a trend of “splits followed by mergers,” where legislators exploit exceptions to switch parties more than once.
- Post-2003, one-third split provision was omitted due to excessive misuse.
- Recent years exposed flaws as political parties strategically caused state government falls using exemptions.
- Anti-defection law provisions become tools for strategic politics rather than principled defections.
- Merger exception fuels speculation and undermines democracy.
Suggested reform: Delete the merger exception from the Tenth Schedule to address the law’s misuse.
