Whip in India
- December 18, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Whip in India
Subject – Polity
Context – Every member duty-bound to attend House: Venkaiah
Concept –
- Under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) a political party has a constitutional right to issue a whip to its legislators.
- SC in Kihoto Holohan vs Zachillhu case, 1992 held that the application of the Tenth Schedule is limited to a vote on “motion of confidence” or “no-confidence” in the government or where the motion under consideration relates to a matter which was an integral policy and programme of the political party.
- The concept of the whip was inherited from colonial British rule. It is used in parliamentary parlance often for floor management by political parties in the legislature.
- A whip is a written order that political party issue to its members for being present for an important vote, or that they vote only in a particular way. The term is derived from the old British practice of “whipping in” lawmakers to follow the party line.
- Constitutional status: The office of ‘whip’, is mentioned neither in the Constitution of India nor in the Rules of the House nor in a Parliamentary Statute. It is based on the conventions of the parliamentary government.
- Non-applicability of Whip: There are some cases such as Presidential elections where whips cannot direct a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) on whom to vote.
To know more about Whip, please refer June 2021 DPN.