The Big Story: Anti-democratic law

On Sunday, Prime Minister Modi spoke grandly of a New India emerging in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive win in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. However, in the small states of Manipur and Goa, the old India was very evident. In spite of not being the largest party in either state, the BJP has staked a claim to form governments in both places.

In Goa, the BJP received 13 seats to the Congress’ 17. Moreover, the incumbent BJP chief minister and five of his ministers lost their seats. It is quite clear that the electoral mandate goes against the saffron party. Yet the governor has invited the BJP to form the government, leading to the Congress moving the Supreme Court alleging horse-trading.

In Manipur, the Congress with 28 is just two short of a simple majority. The BJP has 21 seats. The politics here has even features an alleged abduction, with the Central Industrial Reserve Force accused of kidnapping an independent MLA in order to help the BJP. Rumours of several Congress MLAs jumping ship to the join the BJP are also swirling in the mix.

The anti-defection law was passed by the Union parliament in 1985 to avoid precisely this sort of situation. The law made it illegal for individual legislators to take voting decisions without the permission of their whip. This was supposed to end corruption in the legislature and deepen democracy. However, as Manipur and Goa demonstrate, the law has simply pushed the wheeling and dealing of government formation to the level of party high commands, hiding it from public view. In effect, far from removing the problem of defection, it has hidden it.

In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, there have been several instances of the Speaker sitting on a matter of defection – a move that often helps his party strategically. The anti-defection law actually helps the ruling party engineer defections.

Legislators are expected to speak for their constituencies in the Assembly – it is the primary reason people vote for them. Yet, this law forces MLAs to vote in the Assembly not as per the needs and requirements of their constituents but as per the dictates of an unelected party high command. This is patently undemocratic.

Modi wants to make a New India. A good start would be to make the country more democratic and reconsider the anti-defection law.

The Big Scroll

  1. Most Indian political parties are inherently undemocratic. The anti-defection law has made this worse, argues Mohan Guruswamy.
  2. No debate, please: The devaluation of Parliament is an alarming sign for Indian democracy, writes Shoaib Daniyal.
  3. Political crises in Tamil Nadu, three other states expose the shortcomings of the anti-defection law, says Chaksu Roy.

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