News Snippets

Anti-defection Law

• The Tenth Schedule, popularly known as the anti-defection law, was added to the Constitution in 1985 to bring stability to governments by deterring MPs and MLAs from changing their political parties on whose ticket they were elected. The penalty for shifting political loyalties is the loss of parliamentary membership and a bar on becoming a minister.
• It provides that when a member elected on the ticket of a political party “voluntarily gives up” membership of such a party or votes in the House contrary to the wishes of the party or when an ....