Democracy of Defections in India

By : Yogendra Narain

Page No: 312-323

Abstract
In this article,# the author discusses the issue of political defections in India and some of the advanced countries. After briefly tracing the history of defections in India, the author concludes that the phenomenon has been in existence since the pre-independence period. The author explains the circumstances leading to the enactment of Anti-Defection Act in India; narrates its weaknesses in containing the challenge of defections and the consequent amendments effected in the law to address these challenges over the years. The author analyses various provisions of the anti-defection law in juxtaposition with some of the fundamental democratic tenets and concludes that the law militates against the democratic spirit and is also antithetical to the accountability of the peoples’ representatives to their electorates. The author argues that anti-defection legislation is usually characteristic of less mature democracies. The author contends that in view of the undemocratic nature of the law, the absence of such legislation in about four-fifths of the countries of the world, and also given the fact that now India has come of age (with more than 65 years when she attained independence), the continuance of this law on the rule book needs to be reviewed.

Author :
Yogendra Narain : The then former Secretary-General of Rajya Sabha.