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

About 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.