Anti Defection Law- (Blog)
Introduction
:
Initially, the Constitution of India
does not mention about any of the political parties which are there now in
India at present. But after the multi- party system started, there were
defections in the Indian Parliamentary System where they can shift or move from
one political party to another which had resulted in the breaking down of
public confidence in a democratic country like India.
The law has created a democracy
of parties and numbers, rather than a debate and discussion democracy of it.
Law-making is increasingly driven, not by the compulsive force of a party’s
argument, but by the beast force of a party’s number in the legislature of
India.
Background
:
Defections were common in our country
India even prior to the country’s independence. Beginning of this anti
defection started around 1960, when the rise of coalition politics had
increased the case of defections in the cabinet of ministers of political
parties.
The most important and extreme example
regarding this occurred in the year 1967, where about 142 MP's and 1900 MLA's
had switched their respective political parties. Gaya Lal, a Haryana MLA
changed his party thrice within the same day in 1967. After this, ' Aaya Ram
Gaya Ram' was the phrase that became popular in the history of Indian politics
and this lead to the amendment in the Indian Constitution.
The Rajiv Gandhi regime in the year 1985
inserted the 10th Schedule in the Constitution of India through the
52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985 with a view to put an end
to political defections.
What is Anti Defection Law ? :
The 10th schedule was
inserted in the Constitution in 1985 by the 52nd Amendment Act by
the Rajiv Gandhi government to prevent corruption. The Law
states that :
·
It lays down the
process by which legislators can be disqualified
on grounds of defection by the presiding officer of a legislature based on a
petition by any other member of the House.
·
Secondly, the decision
on as to disqualification on ground of defection is referred to the chairman of
the speaker of such Vidhan Sabha or Lok Sabha or Rajyasabha House,
and his decision is final.
The law stated above applies to both the
Parliament and State Assemblies.
What all does the Anti Defection
Law cover ? :
The Paragraph 2 of the 10th
Schedule of the Indian Constitution lays down the grounds for defection. It
lays down that members who do the following activities will lose their
membership in any House (which could be at the Centre or in a state) if they :
§ Voluntarily
give up or resign from their political party from which they have been elected.
§ If he votes,
or does not vote in the legislature, contrary to the directions of his
political party. If the member has taken the
permission before or is condoned by the party within 15 days from such voting
or abstention, the member does not come under the conditions of
disqualification.
§ If
the candidate who is independent
joins a political party after the election.
§ If
a nominated member joins the party 6 months after he becomes a member of the
legislature.
Exceptions under the law :
There are also exceptions under the Anti Defection Law.
·
The law mentioned here allows
a party to merge with or into other party provided that at least two- thirds of
its legislators are in favour of the merging party.
·
In such scenario,
neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the
original party will face any kind of disqualification.
Are
the current developments of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan counted as defection ?
In
March, 2020 in Madhya Pradesh another example of Anti Defection Law happened
where Jyotiraditya Scindia after serving for 18 years in Congress resigned from
Congress and joined BJP along with 22 Congress MLAs of Madhya Pradesh in March,
2020. Also this situation of MP can be related with Karnataka after the speaker
had ruled the rebel MLAs ineligible for entire session and then they moved to
the Supreme Court of India.
Another
case of Anti Defection Law happened recently in July, 2020 in Rajasthan, when
the Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot along with 18 other ' rebel' congress
MLAs were issued disqualification notices. Pilot and the 18 MLAs had moved to
the High Court of Rajasthan claiming that the disqualification notices issued
to them by the Rajasthan Assembly speaker CP Joshi were not valid. Also they
had challenged for para 2 (1) (a) of this law.
Also
they demanded that clause 2 (1) (a) be declared ultra vires the basic structure
of the constitution and freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 (1)
(A).
Conclusion
:
At
the end it can be concluded that being not partial with everyone in
the party, not fair to everyone and not taking
the correct decision are
the hallmarks of a robust institution, yet there is a need for a more rationalised
version of Anti Defection Law.
Very informative blog, superb
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