Central idea

Key Highlights:

• Eternal Debate: The persistent nature of debates and discussions around political defections and India’s anti-defection law.
• Speaker’s Balancing Act: Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, Rahul Narwekar, navigating the Assembly’s winter session while handling Shiv Sena factions’ disqualification petitions.

Key Challenges:

• Tenth Schedule Critique: Identifying and addressing weaknesses in the Tenth Schedule, allowing for strategic and unpunished political defections.
• State Government Instability: Instances of defections leading to the collapse of democratically elected State governments in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Karnataka, and Arunachal Pradesh.

Key Terms/Phrases:

• Tenth Schedule: Constitutional section housing the anti-defection law.
• Exemptions and Amendments: Two-thirds majority merger provision, 91st Amendment’s omission of the one-third split provision, splitting and merging trends.
• Disqualification Petitions: Filed before legislative Speakers under the Tenth Schedule.

Key Quotes/Anecdotes:

• Strategic Exploitation: Skillful use of exemptions under the Tenth Schedule causing democratically elected governments to crumble.
• Defection Strategies: Instances of splits followed by mergers, highlighting a pattern of exploiting the anti-defection law for political maneuvering.

Key Statements:

• Legislative Response: The removal of the one-third split provision in 2003 as a response to its frequent and strategic misuse.
• Limited Safeguard: The merger exception being the primary safeguard, prompting concerns about its efficacy in preventing group defections.

Key Examples and References:

• Maharashtra’s Complex Scenario: Shiv Sena and NCP factions claiming the status of the original party, forming alliances without actual mergers.
• Surveyed Instances: Instances from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana Assemblies illustrating splits followed by mergers and rapid succession defections.

Key Facts/Data:

• 91st Amendment Impact: Omission of the provision allowing exemption for one-third splits in the original party in 2003.
• Recent Instances: A decade marked by group defections leading to the destabilization of State governments.

Critical Analysis:

• Ailments in the Tenth Schedule: In-depth scrutiny of flaws in the anti-defection law, questioning its effectiveness and the need for reforms.
• Strategic Exploitation: Examining how merger provisions have been strategically used to undermine the stability of elected governments.

Way Forward:

• Deletion of Merger Exception: Urgent removal of the merger exception as a crucial step in addressing the shortcomings in the Tenth Schedule.
• Comprehensive Reforms: Advocating for comprehensive reforms post-deletion to fortify the anti-defection law and restore its intended efficacy.