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GS Paper: Parliament & State Legislatures

  • Indian Legislative Service

    Context

    The appointment of Dr. P.P.K. Ramacharyulu as the Secretary-General of the Upper House by M. Venkaiah Naidu, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, on September 1, 2021, was news that drew much attention. Ramacharyulu was the first-ever Rajya Sabha secretariat staff who rose to become the Secretary-General of the Upper House.

    Responsibilities and role of Secretaries-General of both the Houses

    • Secretaries-General of both the Houses are mandated with many parliamentary and administrative responsibilities.
    • Privileges: The Secretary-General also enjoys certain privileges such as freedom from arrest, immunity from criminal proceedings, and any obstruction and breach of their rights would amount to contempt of the House.

    Principle of secretariate independent of executive government

    • Article 98 of the Constitution provides the scope of separate secretariats for the two Houses of Parliament.
    • The principle, hence, laid in the Article is that the secretariats should be independent of the executive government. 

    Issues with appointing civil servant

    • A separate secretariat marks a feature of a functioning parliamentary democracy.
    • Against the principle of independence: Serving civil servants or those who are retired come with long-held baggage and the clout of their past career.
    • When civil servants are hired to the post of Secretary-General, this not only dishonours the purpose of ensuring the independence of the Secretariat but also leads to a conflict of interests.
    • Against the principle of separation of power: It breaches the principle of separation of power.
    • The officials mandated with exercising one area of power may not expect to exercise the others.
    • Lack of expertise: One of the prerequisites that demand the post of the Secretary-General is unfailing knowledge and vast experience of parliamentary procedures, practices and precedents.
    • Most of the civil servants lack precisely this aspect of expertise.

    Way forward: All-India service

    • There are thousands of legislative bodies in India, ranging from the panchayat, block panchayat, zila parishad, municipal corporations to State legislatures and Union Parliament at the national level.
    • Despite these mammoth law-making bodies, they lack their own common public recruiting and training agency at the national level.
    • Ensuring competent and robust legislative institutions demands having qualified and well-trained staff in place.
    • The growth of modern government and expansion of governmental activities require a matching development and laborious legislative exercise.
    • Creating a common all-India service cadre — an Indian Legislative Service — is a must.
    • The Rajya Sabha can, under Article 312, pass a resolution to this effect.
    • In the United Kingdom, the Clerk of the House of Commons has always been appointed from the legislative staff pool created to serve Parliament.
    • It is high time that India adapts and adopts such democratic institutional practices.

    Conclusion

    A common service can build a combined and experienced legislative staff cadre, enabling them to serve from across local bodies to Union Parliament.

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  • Women and Politics

    Context

    For a proper appraisal of the relations between gender and democracy, we ought to examine the links between violence, representation, and the political participation of women.

    Role of women in South Asian democracy

    • Historically, one of the peculiar paradoxes of South Asian democracy has been the continued presence of strong women leaders at the executive centre coupled with a generally appalling condition of women in society at large.
    • South Asia has had the largest number of women heads of state — including Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Indira Gandhi, Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina, and Benazir Bhutto — of any region in the world till recently.
    • Under-represented: While women have played very visible and important roles at the higher echelons of power and at the grassroots level in social movements, they have been under-represented in political parties as officials and as members of key decision-making bodies.

    Electoral representation of women in India

    • In India, women currently make up 14.6 per cent of MPs (78 MPs) in the Lok Sabha, which is a historic high.
    • Although the percentage is modest, it is remarkable because women barely made up 9 per cent of the overall candidates in 2019.
    • In electoral representation, has fallen several places in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s global ranking of women’s parliamentary presence, from 117 after the 2014 election to 143 as of January 2020. 
    • In terms of electoral quotas, there were two outstanding exceptions in the 2019 general elections.
    • Voluntary parliamentary quota: West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee and Odisha under Naveen Patnaik opted for voluntary parliamentary quotas, fielding 40 per cent and 33 per cent women candidates, respectively.

    Growing turnout of women voters and its implications

    • Assertion of citizenship rights: In 1962, the male voter turnout in India was 16 percentage points higher than for women. Six decades later, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, women’s participation exceeded that of men for the first time.
    • This suggests an increasing assertion of citizenship rights among women.
    • The growing turnout of women voters could influence political parties’ programmatic priorities and improve their responsiveness to women voters’ interests, preferences, and concerns, including sexual harassment and gender-based violence.
    • Women-centric schemes: The state government in Bengal ran and highlighted many women-centric schemes that potentially played a central role in their victory.
    • The central government must be commended for its achievements in two areas in particular: Its DBT schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan.
    • As a result, maternal mortality rate has reduced from 167 (2011-13) to 113 (2016-18).
    • The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2017 is another landmark achievement that extended the paid maternal leave to 26 weeks from the existing 12 weeks.

    Way forward

    • Government must use its parliamentary majority to finally pass the Women’s Reservation Bill, as was promised in their 2014 election manifesto.
    • Until that happens, the initiative taken by the governments of Banerjee and Patnaik to increase women’s parliamentary presence must serve as an inspiration to other Indian states.

    Conclusion

    The extent to which parties represent women and take up their interests is closely tied to the health and vitality of democratic processes.

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  • Anti defection: Related issues

    Context

    In its verdict in the Goa MLAs case, Bombay High Court has misread the 10th schedule of the Constitution, which was meant to prevent horse trading among legislators.

    Understanding the Paragraph (4) of Tenth Schedule

    • Paragraph (4) is an exception to the Tenth Schedule’s main provisions.
    • It operates only when the defectors’ original political party has merged with the party to which they have defected and two-thirds of the members of the legislature belonging to that party have agreed to the merger.
    • Under this provision, the merger of the original political party has to take place first, followed by two-thirds of the MLAs agreeing to that merger.
    • The basic premise of the February 25 judgment is that sub-paragraph (2) is distinct from the parent paragraph, and a factual merger of the original political party is not necessary.
    • This does not square with the content, context and thrust of paragraph (4), which contemplates the factual merger of the original political party — in this case, the INC.
    • The court’s view — the merger of the 10 MLAs of the Congress Legislative Party with the BJP should be regarded as the Congress itself merging with the BJP — goes against the letter and spirit of the Tenth Schedule, paragraph (4) in particular.

    Process for the merger: 2 conditions need to be satisfied

    • 1] Merger alone is not enough: The opening words of sub-paragraph (2) — “for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph” — clearly mean that to exempt a member from disqualification on account of defection, and for considering this member’s claim that he has become a member of the party with which the merger has taken place, a merger of two political parties alone is not enough.
    • 2] Not less than 2/3 members should also agree: Not less than two-thirds of the members should also agree to such a merger.
    • The lawmakers made it tough for potential defectors to defect.
    •  The words “such merger” make it clear beyond any shadow of doubt that the merger of the original political party has to take place before two-thirds of the members agree to such a merger.
    • The members of the legislature cannot agree among themselves to merge as the court has said, but they can agree to a merger after it takes place.

    Conclusion

    The anti-defection law was designed to eliminate political defection. However, the judgment of the Bombay HC seems to assume that paragraph (4) of the 10th schedule is meant to facilitate defection. This judgment is likely to open the flood gates to defection. The Supreme Court must intervene quickly.

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  • What is Privilege Motion?

    An MP from Telangana submitted a Privilege Motion against PM regarding his remarks over the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh.

    What is Parliamentary Privilege?

    • Parliamentary privilege refers to the right and immunity enjoyed by legislatures.
    • The legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties.
    • They are granted so that the MPs/MLAs can effectively discharge their functions.
    • The powers, privileges, and immunities of either House of the Indian Parliament and of its members and committees are laid down in Article 105 of the Constitution.
    • Article 194 deals with the powers, privileges and immunities of the State Legislatures, their members and their committees.

    What is a Privilege Motion?

    • When any of the rights and immunities are disregarded, the offence is called a breach of privilege and is punishable under the law of Parliament.
    • A notice is moved in the form of a motion by any member of either House against those being held guilty of breach of privilege.
    • Each House also claims the right to punish as contempt actions which, while not breach of any specific privilege, are offenses against its authority and dignity.

    What are the rules governing privilege?

    • Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and correspondingly Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook govern privilege.
    • It says that a member may, with the consent of the Speaker or the Chairperson, raise a question involving a breach of privilege either of a member or of the House or of a committee thereof.
    • The rules however mandate that any notice should be relating to an incident of recent occurrence and should need the intervention of the House.
    • Notices have to be given before 10 am to the Speaker or the Chairperson.

    What is the role of the Speaker/Rajya Sabha Chair?

    • The Speaker/RS chairperson is the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion.
    • The Speaker/Chair can decide on the privilege motion himself or herself or refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament.
    • If the Speaker/Chair gives consent under Rule 222, the member concerned is given an opportunity to make a short statement.

    What is the Privileges Committee?

    • In the Lok Sabha, the Speaker nominates a committee of privileges consisting of 15 members as per respective party strengths.
    • A report is then presented to the House for its consideration. The Speaker may permit a half-hour debate while considering the report.
    • The Speaker may then pass final orders or direct that the report be tabled before the House.
    • A resolution may then be moved relating to the breach of privilege that has to be unanimously passed.
    • In the Rajya Sabha, the deputy chairperson heads the committee of privileges, which consists of 10 members.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.With reference to the Parliament of India, which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, by-laws etc. conferred by the constitution of delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation?

    (a) Committee on Government Assurances

    (b) Committee on Subordinate Legislation

    (c) Rules Committee

    (d) Business Advisory Committee

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”1zmlyzvld5″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • Electoral bond scheme

    Context

    Ever since its introduction, the electoral bond scheme has envenomed the democratic process, by destroying altogether any notion of transparency in political funding.

    Issue of anonymity in electoral bond

    • The electoral bond scheme is designed to allow an individual, or any “artificial juridical person”, including body corporates, to purchase bonds issued by the State Bank of India during notified periods of time.
    • These instruments are issued in the form of promissory notes, and in denominations ranging from ₹1,000 to ₹1 crore.
    • Once purchased, the buyer can donate the bond to any political party of their choice and the party can then encash it on demand.

    Supreme Court’s opinion

    • The Supreme Court has allowed the scheme to continue unabated and has denied an interim stay on its operation.
    • In one such provisional order, the Court asserted that the bonds were not, in fact, anonymous.
    • According to the Court, since both the purchase and the encashment of bonds are made through banking channels, all it would take for a person to glean the identity of a donor was for her to look through every corporation’s financial statement — these records, the Court said, ought to be available with the Registrar of Companies.
    • What the order ignored was that there is no attendant obligation on political parties to provide details to the public on each donation received by them through electoral bonds.
    • Companies are also under no obligation to disclose the name of the party to whom they made the donation.

    Violation of voter’s right

    •  The Supreme Court has consistently held that voters have a right to freely express themselves during an election and that they are entitled to all pieces of information that give purpose and vigour to this right.
    • Surely, to participate in the electoral process in a meaningful manner and to choose one’s votes carefully, a citizen must know the identity of those backing the candidates.

    Electoral bond does not eliminate the role of black money in funding elections

    • As affidavits filed by the Election Commission of India in the Supreme Court have demonstrated, the scheme, if anything, augments the potential role of black money in elections.
    • It does so by, among other things, removing existing barriers against shell entities and dying concerns from donating to political parties.
    • Moreover, even if the bonds were meant to eliminate the presence of unaccounted currency, it is difficult to see what nexus the decision to provide complete anonymity of the donor bears to this objective.
    • It is for this reason that the Reserve Bank of India reportedly advised the Government against the scheme’s introduction.

    Conclusion

    The worries over the electoral bond scheme, however, go beyond its patent unconstitutionality. This is because in allowing anonymity it befouls the basis of our democracy and prevents our elections from being truly free and fair.

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  • Supreme Court revokes Suspension of Maharashtra MLAs

    The Supreme Court has set aside the one-year suspension of 12 MLAs from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

    What was the case?

    • A petition was filed against the suspension.
    • It stated the move as “grossly arbitrary and disproportionate”.
    • The challenge relied mainly on grounds of denial of the principles of natural justice, and of violation of laid-down procedure.

    What did the judgment observe?

    • The apex court observed the decision to suspend them for a year was ‘unconstitutional, substantively illegal and irrational’.

    What did the court say about members being suspended beyond an ongoing session?

    (A) Arbitrary Action

    • The court agreed with the MLAs’ contention that the suspension has to follow the procedure laid down in Rule 53.
    • It said that the suspension of a member must be preferred as a short term or a temporary, disciplinary measure for restoring order in the Assembly.
    • Anything in excess of that would be irrational suspension, the court said.
    • It said that Rule 53 only provides for the withdrawal of a member for the remainder of the day or in case of repeat misconduct in the same session, for the remainder of the session.

    (B) Defining ‘disorderly behaviour’

    • The court said that as per this rule, withdrawal of a member can only be done in case of the member’s conduct being “grossly disorderly”.
    • It relied on definitions of the two words and said that the conduct has to be considered in a graded objective manner.
    • It is not a punishment like expulsion but more a direction to ensure that the business of the House can be carried on smoothly, without any disruption.

    (C) Violative of Fundamental Rights

    • The MLAs were not given an opportunity to present their case and that the suspension violated their fundamental right to equality before the law under Article 14 of the Constitution.
    • They also submitted that they were not given access to video of the proceedings of the House, and it was not clear how they had been identified in the large crowd that had gathered in the chamber.

    (D) Against constitutional ethos

    • It termed the one-year suspension worse than expulsion or disqualification or resignation as far as the rights of the constituency to be represented in the House are concerned.
    • It would also impact the democratic setup.

    (E) Immunity of the state legislature

    • It also considered whether the legislature had complete immunity from judicial review in matters of irregularity of procedure.
    • It ruled that procedures are open to judicial review on the touchstone of being unconstitutional, grossly illegal, irrational or arbitrary.

    Legal basis of the Judgment

    Ans. The bench referred to Article 190 (4) of the Constitution

    • It says- if for a period of sixty days a member of a House of the Legislature of a State is without permission of the House absent from all meetings thereof, the House may declare his seat vacant.
    • Under Section 151 (A) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951, “a bye-election for filling any vacancy shall be held within a period of six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy”.
    • This means that barring exceptions specified under this section, no constituency can remain without a representative for more than six months.

    What was the Assembly’s response to the judicial enquiry?

    • It argued that the House had acted within its legislative competence.
    • Under Article 212, courts do not have jurisdiction to inquire into the proceedings of the legislature.
    • Article 212 (1) states that “the validity of any proceedings in the Legislature of a State shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure”.
    • It also said that a seat does not automatically become vacant if the member does not attend the House for 60 days but it becomes vacant only if declared so by the House.
    • It was submitted that the House is not obligated to declare such a seat vacant.

    Why was this suspension controversial?

    • manipulation: A thin majority coalition government could use such suspensions to manipulate the number of Opposition party members.
    • Avoiding legislative scrutiny: With prominent members suspended, opposition will not be able to effectively participate in discussions/debates in the House fearing suspension of its members for a longer period.
    • Enmity among legislators: The court pointed out that Parliament and Assemblies were becoming more and more an intransigent place.

    Way forward

    • A nation aspiring to be a “world leader” should debate on the welfare of its citizens rather than make Parliament/State Assemblies a stage to exchange jeers and launch personal attacks.
    • The members must maintain statesmanship and not brinkmanship in the House, said the apex court.
    • For becoming world leaders and self-dependent/reliant, quality of debates in the House ought to be of the highest order.

    Conclusion

    • Parliament or the State legislatures are no places to create a ruckus.
    • It is a place where policies and laws are propounded for governing the citizenry.
    • Aggression during the debates has no place in the setting of country governed by the Rule of Law.
    • Even a complex issue needs to be resolved in a congenial atmosphere by observing collegiality and showing full respect and deference towards each other.

     

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  • The strength of our republic

    Context

    A republic is made robust and kept alive by its people. In its current form, the Indian republic marks 73 years of maintaining a dynamic balance.

    Directly elected representation

    •  It is to the credit of our people that today we have a pyramidal three-layered elected representative system that governs us.
    • This system today has over 3 million elected representatives (a million of them women), over 4,000 elected to the state legislatures and over 500 in the Parliament.
    • This scale of directly elected representation, perhaps, can be seen nowhere else in the world.

    Moral and spiritual basis of the Constitution

    • In Pilgrimage to Freedom, K M Munshi writes, “our Constitution has a moral background — to secure justice for every section of our society; as also a spiritual basis — to preserve and protect all religions in the exercise of their functions”.
    • The challenges continue in securing justice for every section of our society.
    • The Backward Classes, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the poor across all categories clamour for better opportunities and affordable justice.
    • What Munshi calls the spiritual basis of our Constitution in having to preserve and protect all religions is also seen under stress.
    • When the right to practise one’s religion is denied or threatened, the silence of the thinking public or the media weakens that constitutionally embedded protection.

    Challenges posed by social media

    • Through the power of technology and its capacity to broadcast at mass scale, an otherwise useful tool, social media, has become a challenge and sometimes a threat to one or several of the rights enshrined in our Constitution.
    • Curtailing them to protect the rights of citizens is seen as trampling upon the right to free speech.
    • Without any action, the damage caused to social harmony by such rampant false news can result in people losing faith in the Constitution itself.

    Constitution as a living, dynamic process

    • Our Constitution is the most amended of all constitutions in the world.
    • If there are more than 100 amendments made to the Constitution, there are more than 1,500 laws that have been repealed because they have outlived their times.
    • These deadwood laws, by remaining on paper, occasionally became a weapon in the hands of rent-seekers.
    • Their removal, as a part of administrative reform, has kept the role of the executive transparent and accountable.
    • That the Constitution is always evolving is best exemplified by the 101st amendment which rolled out the Goods and Services Tax.
    • his amendment brought in a unified indirect tax regime by subsuming most of the indirect taxes of the Centre and the states.
    • Yet to complete five full years, the GST Council has stood the test of challenging times even in its initial years.
    • It augurs well for cooperative federalism.

    Conclusion

    Our Constitution has served us well in these seven decades. Several republics in the post-imperial era have rejected their earlier constitutions and tested new ones. It is the people who can keep the republic robust and alive.

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  • A festival to salute India’s vibrant democracy

    Context

    This year we are celebrating our 73rd Republic Day. The Constitution has been our guiding force in the journey of the nation as a mature democracy among comity of nations.

    Historical background

    • The Constituent Assembly undertook intensive deliberations over a period of two years, 11 months and 18 days spread over 11 sessions, during which the Constitution of India took shape.
    • Our Constituent Assembly played a dual role after Independence, given the insurmountable task of nation-building.
    • Our Constituent Assembly had performed the functions of the provisional Parliament of India in the interval between the time our Constitution was enforced and the day when the new Parliament was formed following the first General Elections (October 25, 1951-February 21, 1952).
    • The Constituent Assembly of India acted as the first Parliament of independent India.

    Role of the Parliament

    • Representative institutions and democratic traditions have always been an integral part of our rich heritage
    • Our Parliament has been playing a pivotal role in the all-round development of the nation by adopting many parliamentary devices for ensuring free and fair discussions and dialogue.
    • We have to ensure that our institutions and governance ensure inclusivity and the participation of our population in our developmental journey, particularly our women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and all other marginalised sections become equal partners in our growth story.

    Ensuring the best legislative practices

    • Repository of the proceedings: To ensure that best legislative practices are shared, a national portal is being planned to serve as a repository of the proceedings of Parliament and all State/Union Territory legislatures in the country.
    • Research support is being provided to Members to help them participate better and meaningfully in matters brought before Parliament.
    • Review of the laws to make them relevant: It is also time in the journey of our nation to take stock and review laws that were enacted during the pre-Independence era so as to make them more relevant to our current requirements and future challenges.

    Conclusion

    Republic Day is an occasion for people’s representatives and all citizens of this proud nation to reaffirm faith in the ideals enshrined in our Constitution.

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  • Suspension of MLAs

    • Some legislators were suspended for one year by the Maharashtra Assembly for alleged disorderly conduct.
    • The unusually long period of suspension has been questioned by the Supreme Court, which is hearing a challenge to the Assembly’s action.

    A case in apex court

    • The court has reserved its judgment after hearing elaborate arguments.
    • The main question before the court is whether suspension for a whole year is valid.

    Suspending MLAs: A fact check

    • Each state has their individual rules for the conduct of assembly. These rules provides for the suspension of MLAs.
    • Under Rule 53 of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules, 1960, only the Speaker has the power to suspend MLAs indulging in unruly behavior.
    • Therefore, the motion to suspend cannot be put to vote as this would allow the Government to suspend as many Members of Opposition as it sees fit.

    Constitutional ground behind this suspension

    • The Court referred to Article 190 (4) of the Constitution which says that if for a period of 60 days, a member of a House, without its permission, is absent; the House may declare his or her seat vacant.
    • Suspension of MLAs beyond this period would lead to their disqualification.

    What did the Supreme Court observe?

    • Suspension of the MLAs would amount to punishing the constituencies as a whole.
    • Each constituency has equal amount of right to be represented in the House, observed the court.
    • The apex court observed that any state cannot create a constitutional void, a hiatus situation for any constituency.
    • It said the House cannot suspend a member beyond 59 days.

    What does the State government say?

    • Counsel for the State government has argued that there is no limitation on the power of the legislature to punish for breach of privilege or disorderly conduct in the course of its proceedings.
    • Once the power to punish a member for disorderly conduct is recognized, there can be no judicial review of the manner in which it is exercised.
    • Further, during suspension, a member continues to hold office, but only loses their voice in the legislature.

     

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  • How to fix the anti-defection loophole

    Context

    It is time that we took a fresh look at the Tenth Schedule to our Constitution.

    Shortcomings of the anti-defection law

    • Partisan nature of Speaker: Paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule was omitted by the Constitution (91st Amendment) Act, 2003, which came into effect on January 1, 2004.
    • Paragraph 3, as it existed prior to the amendment, protected defectors as long as one-third of the members of a political party formed a separate group. 
    • In the context of small assemblies, one-third of the members could easily be cobbled together.
    • Often, the speaker of the assembly was seen to be collaborating with the political party in power to protect the defectors under the one-third rule.
    • Such partisan conduct of the speakers is at the heart of a non-functional Tenth Schedule.
    • The seeming political bias of the speakers acting as tribunals is apparent from how disqualification petitions are dealt with.
    • We have seen this happen in Manipur, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other jurisdictions.
    • Allowing two-third members to merge with another party: After the omission of paragraph 3, paragraph 4 allowed for the protection of defecting members provided two-thirds of the members of the legislative party merged with another political party.
    • This provision has invariably been misused.
    • Constitutional flaw in provisions of paragraph 4: Third, there is a constitutional flaw in the manner in which the provisions of paragraph 4 have been enacted.
    • Paragraph 4(1) stipulates that a member of the house will not be disqualified from his membership where his original political party merges with another political party and he claims that he and other members have become members of the other political party or a new political party is being formed by such merger.
    • However, paragraph 4(2) provides that such a merger would be deemed to have taken place only if not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislative party agreed to such a merger.
    • This allows for clandestine corruption where two-thirds of the members of the legislative party are bought over, by means fair or foul, to either topple governments or to strengthen a razor-thin majority of the party in power.
    • This makes the entire provision unworkable and unconstitutional.
    • Prolonging the proceedings: We have witnessed situations where, even though the provisions of paragraph 4 are not ex-facie attracted, the speaker of the assembly makes sure that the proceedings are interminably prolonged so that the term of the assembly comes to an end before the proceedings under the Tenth Schedule against those ex-facie defectors have been concluded.

    Need for urgent attention to Article 164(1B)

    • This allows for the toppling of governments by inducements of various kinds.
    • The motivation is that a fresh election allows the disqualified member to be re-elected.
    • He then becomes a member of the assembly once again, as its term is not over and can also be appointed a minister.
    • Under Article 164(1B), such a defection has no real consequences.

    Way forward

    • 1] Ensure impartiality of Speaker: Speakers, when elected must resign from the party to which they belong.
    • At the end of their term, there should be a cooling-off period before they can become members of any political party.
    • 2] Omit Paragraph 4 through Amendment: Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule should be omitted by moving a constitutional amendment.
    • 3] Make disqualification for 5 years: All those disqualified under paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule should neither be entitled to contest elections nor hold public office for five years from the date of their disqualification.
    • Article 164(1B) should be omitted by moving a constitutional amendment.
    • Set time limit to decide petition for disqualification: All petitions for disqualification of members under paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule should be decided, by adopting a summary procedure, within a period of three months.

    Consider the question “Has anti-defection law succeeded in curbing the defections and ensuring the stability of the elected governments? Give reasons in support of your argument.”

    Conclusion

    If our polity wants to get rid of open corruption, it needs to take urgent steps to plug existing loopholes that have made the Tenth Schedule unworkable.

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    Back2Basics: Article 164(1B)

    • A member of the Legislative Assembly of a State or either House of the Legislature of a State having Legislative Council belonging to any political party who is disqualified for being a member of that House under paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule shall also be disqualified to be appointed as a Minister under clause (1) for duration of the period commencing from the date of his disqualification till the date on which the term of his office as such member would expire or where he contests any election to the Legislative Assembly of a State or either House of the Legislature of a State having Legislative Council, as the case may be, before the expiry of such period, till the date on which he is declared elected, whichever is earlier.