ANTI-DEFECTION LAW HAS PROVED TO BE A COMPLETE FAILURE

P. CHIDAMBARAM WAS A first-time MP when the anti-defection law was passed in Parliament in 1985.

- SONI MISHRA

He walked up to A.K. Sen, the law minister, and suggested that he should carefully consider the provisions being made in the Tenth Schedule. Sen’s reply, said Chidambaram, was that it could be amended later.

Forty years later, the Congress in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections promised to amend the law. Chidambaram, the chief architect of the manifesto and one of the brightest legal minds in India, insists that an amendment should make defection a ground for automatic disqualification and ban the member from contesting an election during the term of the house. Excerpts from an interview:

Q/ A Congress government enacted the anti-defection law in 1985. Before the Lok Sabha elections this year, the Congress, in its manifesto, said the law must be amended. Why do you feel the law needs to be amended?
A/ I remember the year in which the Tenth Schedule was passed in Parliament. A.K. Sen, who was the law minister, had moved the bill. I was a first-term member of Parliament, and I walked up to him and said, ‘Sir, I think you should carefully consider the provisions you are making in the Tenth Schedule’. He said, ‘Let’s pass it, and then we can always amend it’.

The original Tenth Schedule had a provision for split and merger. The provision for split was omitted by an amendment, but the provision for merger remains. And that has been open to abuse. The provision for merger encourages one or more members who are elected on a party ticket to defect from the party and then put forward various arguments. The provision for merger, on many occasions, effectively becomes a split in the legislature party. The matter then goes to the speaker, who sits on the complaint for months, in some cases, years. He hands down a decision towards the end of the term of the member, and in many cases, after the term of the member is over.