Palampur: Opportunism in another name of modern-day politics. Lately we have seen political drama in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In Madhya Pradesh unhappy and ignored elected member of a party had deflected to rival party and toppled the government. In Rajasthan, though situation was successfully handled, but unhappy faction of a party had given enough jolt to the ruling party.
Veteran politician from Himachal Shanta Kumar has suggested to amend the Anti-Defection Law and make it more stringent and effective. Former CM, who is known for his values and honesty, stated that the defection law should be amended so that elected representatives will be legally bound to stick with the party on which representative had elected.
Shanta Kumar suggested that if any elected member deflected to another party, his/her membership should be cancelled immediately and also should be barred from contesting election for 10 years.
Shanta Kumar believed that the amendment is necessary and it will also help to clean the Indian political system where money plays a major role in toppling elected governments. Giving example of recent development in Rajasthan, Shanta Kumar stated that the anti-defection law needs more teeth to stop such development in the near future.
The anti-defection law in India, technically the Tenth Schedule to the Indian Constitution, was enacted to address the perceived problem of instability caused by democratically elected legislators in India’s Parliamentary System of Government shifting allegiance from the parties they supported at the time of election, or disobeying their parties’ decisions at critical times such as during voting on an important resolution.
Following recommendations from many constitutional bodies, Parliament in 2003 passed the Ninety-first Amendment to the Constitution of India. This strengthened the act by adding provisions for disqualification of defectors and barring them from being appointed as ministers for a period of time.
However, with recent development in many states, anti-defection law has proved ineffective and government may add some more stringent norms to make it effective.
