Poll bound Nagaland hit by defection

Subject : Polity

Section: Parliament and State legislature

Concept :

Undeterred by the frequent defection of its legislators in northeastern states, Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United has decided to contest the upcoming Nagaland assembly elections scheduled in the last week of February.

Anti-defection law

The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985 by 52nd amendment.
It lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House.

What constitutes defection?

The law covers three kinds of scenarios.

One is when legislators elected on the ticket of one political party “voluntarily give up” membership of that party or vote in the legislature against the party’s wishes. A legislator’s speech and conduct inside and outside the legislature can lead to deciding the voluntarily giving up membership.
The second scenario arises when an MP/MLA who has been elected as an independent join a party later.
The third scenario relates to nominated legislators. In their case, the law specifies that they can join a political party within six months of being appointed to the House, and not after such time.
Violation of the law in any of these scenarios can lead to a legislator being penalised for defection.
The Presiding Officers of the Legislature (Speaker, Chairman) are the deciding authorities in such cases. The Supreme Court has held legislators can challenge their decisions before the higher judiciary.
The law does not provide a time-frame within which the presiding officer has to decide a defection case.
The supreme court held that ideally, Speakers should take a decision on a defection petition within three months.