🚀 Launch Special — Full Access, Free for Everyone till 15th August. No card needed.

THE INSIGHT EXPRESS
PolityGS-22026-07-21

Defections and the Anti-Defection Law — Why the Tenth Schedule Is Failing India's Democracy

Two editorials, one wound: the 1985 law written to stop defections is now used to organise bigger ones. The partisan adjudicator, the two-thirds rule that scaled defection up instead of stopping it, and the 'resign-and-reface-the-voter' fix that shifts the law from punishment to restitution.

Parliament & state legislatures· Two editorials, one wound: the 1985 law written to stop defections is now used to organise bigger ones. The partisan adjudicator, the two-thirds rule that scaled defection up instead of stopping it, and the 'resign-and-reface-the-voter' fix that shifts the law from punishment to restitution.Elections & Representation of People's ActSeparation of powers & dispute redressalHistorical underpinnings & evolution

What This Article Is About

Two editorials in two different papers on the same day are pointing at the same wound. The Hindu carries a piece by Prabal Basu Roy arguing that the recent break-ups inside the Trinamool Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) are not just political events — they are moments where the voter’s mandate quietly gets stolen.

The Indian Express carries a piece by Desh Deepak Verma, former Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, saying the Anti-Defection Law itself has become part of the problem. Together they push one conclusion — the 1985 law meant to stop defections is now being used to organise bigger ones — and Verma proposes a fix: anyone who resigns from their party should automatically lose their seat and face the voter again.

This is a standalone piece, so every concept below — the Tenth Schedule, the two-thirds rule, the Speaker’s role, the key judgments — is explained in place.

The Deeper UPSC Dimensions

This section is part of the full analysis.

Create a free account to unlock

The Big Picture — How Everything Connects

This section is part of the full analysis.

Create a free account to unlock

PYQ Linkage — Then vs Now

This section is part of the full analysis.

Create a free account to unlock

Model Answers with Frameworks

PYQ 2013Discuss250 words

The role of individual MPs (Members of Parliament) has diminished over the years and as a result healthy constructive debates on policy issues are not usually witnessed. How far can this be attributed to the anti-defection law which was legislated but with a different intention?

How to approach

Original intent (1985, Aaya Ram Gaya Ram instability) → actual working (the whip now silences MPs on every bill, not just confidence votes) → yet mass defections continue, so the law fails on both fronts → way forward (restrict the whip to money bills and confidence motions per the Dinesh Goswami Committee, AND make individual defection automatically trigger seat vacancy).

Source: UPSC CSE Mains 2013, GS-2

PYQ 2023Discuss10 marks · 150 words

Discuss the role of Presiding Officers of state legislatures in maintaining order and impartiality in conducting legislative work and in facilitating best democratic practices.

How to approach

Constitutional position of the Speaker (Articles 178/93, powers over the House) → impartiality issues (elected on a party ticket, no requirement to give up party office, dependence on the ruling majority) → the specific case of defection decisions (delay tactics, petitions pending for full terms, the SC's three-month direction in Keisham Meghachandra Singh) → reform ideas (independent tribunal for defection cases, convention of resigning from the party, time-bound decisions).

Source: UPSC CSE Mains 2023, GS-2 (10 marks)

2 practise questions — written for this article, not found in any PYQ paper.Create a free account

Prelims Practice

3 practise MCQs — written for this article, not found in any PYQ paper.Create a free account

What we covered

Tenth Schedule52nd Amendment 198591st Amendment 2003Aaya Ram Gaya RamKihoto Hollohan 1992Keisham Meghachandra Singh 2020Two-thirds merger ruleSpeaker's discretionArticle 323B tribunalDinesh Goswami CommitteeParty whipFiduciary public officeModel Code of ConductADR judgment 2002Role of OppositionTransformismo