 statement of objects and reasonsthe tenth schedule to the constitution, which 1s known as anti-defection law, was added in early 1985 to combat the evil of political defection lest 1 undermined the very foundations of our democracy and the principles which sustained it it provides inter alia for disqualification of an elected member of parliament or a state legislature on the ground of detection if he voluntarily relinquishes his membership of the politcal party by which he was set-up as a candidate for election as such a member or he votes or abstains from voting in the house, contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs however, as the experience has shown during the last fifteen years of the working of the anu-defection law, the concepts of 'split' in, and 'merger' of, a political party in the house have provided escape routes to the defectors these escape routes got widened and smoothened for intending defectors by some of the rulings of presiding officers in fact, the number of incidents of defections in state legislatures and parliament have been quite large during the last decade and continuous threat of defection has been creating hindrances tn decision making by the political parties, hence, for combating the malaise of political defections these two concepts of "split" and "merger" have to be eliminated if some elected representatives do not agree with the policies and programmes adopted by their parties, they should resign and seek fresh mandate from their constituents again the power to decide questions as to disqualification on ground of defection should be vested, as in other cases of disqualification under articles 103 and 192 of the constitution, in the president of india to be exercised with the advice of the election commission of india this will certainly help m myecting stability tn the democratic system of governance of the country the bill seeks to achieve this objective,  extract from the constitution of india|                  |     |     ||-------------------|------|------|| decision          | on   |      || questions         | as   | to   || disqualifications |      |      |103 (/) if any question arises as to whether a member of either house of parliament has become subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in clause (/) of article 102, the question shall be referred for the decision of the president and his decision shall be final |    |    |    | of    | members    ||----|----|----|-------|-------------||   |   |   |      |            |192 (/) if any question arises as to whether a member of a house of the legislature of a decision on questions as to state has become subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in clause (/) of article 191, the question shall be referred for the decision of the governor and his decision shall be final disqualificattons of members      '(tenth schedule] [articles 102(2) and 191(2)} provisions as to disqualification on ground of defection1 interpretation—in this schedule, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a) "house" means either house of parliament or the legislative assembly or, as the case may be, either house of the legislature of a state; (b) "legislature party", in relation to a member of a house belonging to any political party in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 or paragraph 3 or, as the case may be, paragraph 4, means the group consisting of all the members of that house for the time being belonging to that political party in accordance with the said provisions; (c) "original political party", in relation to a member of a house, means the political party to which he belongs for the purposes of sub-paragraph (j) of paragraph 2; and (d) "paragraph" means a paragraph of this schedule 2 disqualification an ground of defection—(/) subject to the provisions of paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, a member of a house belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the house— (a) if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party; or (b) if he votes or abstains from voting in such house contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs or by any person or authority authorised by it in this behalf, without obtaining, in either case, the prior permission of such political party, person or authority and such voting or abstention has not been condoned by such political party, person or authority within fifteen days from the date of such voting or abstention explanation—for the purposes of this sub-paragraph,— (a) an elected member of a house shall be deemed to belong to the political party, if any, by which he was set up as a candidate for election as such member; (b) a nominated member of a house shall,— (i) where he is a member of any political party on the date of his nominations as such member, be deemed to belong to such political party; (ii) in any other case, be deemed to belong to the political party of which he becomes, or, as the case may be, first becomes, a member before the expiry of six months from the date on which he takes his seat after complying with the requirements of article 99 or, as the case may be, article 188 (2) an elected member of a house who has been elected as such otherwise than as a candidate set up by any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the house if he joins any political party after such election (3) a nominated member of a house shall be disqualified for being a member of the house if he joins any political party after the expiry of six months from the date on which he takes his seat after complying with the requirements of article 99 or, as the case may be, article 188 (4) notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this paragraph, a person who, on the commencement of the constitution (fifty-second amendment) act, 1985, is amember of a house (whether elected or nominated as such) shall,— (i) where he was a member of a political party immediately before such commencement, be deemed, for the purposes of sub-paragraph (/) of this paragraph, to have been elected as a member of such house as a candidate set up by such political party; (ii) in any other case, be deemed to be an elected member of the house who has been elected as such otherwise than as a candidate set up by any political party for the purposes of sub-paragraph (2) of this paragraph or, as the case may be, be deemed to be a nominated member of the house for the purposes of sub-paragraph (3) of this paragraph 3 disqualification on ground of defection not to apply in case of split—where a member of a house makes a claim that he and any other members of his legislature party constitute the group representing a faction which has arisen as a result of the split in his original political party and such group consists of not less than one-third of the members of such legislature party,— ' (a) he shall not be disqualified under sub-paragraph (/) of paragraph 2 on the ground— (2) that he has voluntarily given up his membership of his original political party ; or (ii) that he has voted or abstained from voting in such house contrary to any direction issued by such party or by any person or authority authorised by it in that behalf without obtaining the prior permission of such party, person or authority and such voting or abstention has not been condoned by such party, person or authority within fifteen days from the date of such voting or abstention; and (b) from the time of such split, such faction shall be deemed to be the political | party to which he belongs for the purposes of sub-paragraph (/) of paragraph 2 and to be his original political party for the purposes of this paragraph 4 disqualification on ground of defection not to apply in case of merger—(/) a member of a house shall not be disqualified under sub-paragraph (/) of paragraph 2 where his original political party merges with another political party and he claims that he and any other members of his original political party— (a) have become members of such other political party or, as the case may be, of a new political party formed by such merger; or (b) have not accepted the merger and adopted to function as a separate group, and from the time of such merger, such other political party or new political party or group, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be the political party to which he belongs for the purposes of sub-paragraph (/) of paragraph 2 and to be his original political party for the purposes of this sub-paragraph (2) for the purposes of sub-paragraph (/) of this paragraph, the merger of the original political party of a member of a house shall be deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than two-third of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger 5, exemption—-notwithstanding anything contained in this schedule, a person who has been elected to the office of the speaker or the deputy speaker of the house of the people or the deputy chairman of the council of states or the chairman or the deputy chairman of the legislative council of a state or-the speaker or the deputy speaker of the legislative assembly of a state, shall not be disqualified under this schedule, - (a) if he, by reason of his election to such office, voluntarily gives up the membership of the political party to which he belonged immediately before such election and does not, so long as he continues to hold such office thereafter, rejoin that political party or become a member of another political party; or (b) if he, having given up by reason of his election to such office his membership of the political party to which he belonged immediately before such election, rejoins such political party after he ceases to hold such office 6 decision on questions as to disqualification on ground of defection—(/) if any question arises as to whether a member of a house has become subject to disqualification under this schedule, the question shall be referred for the decision of the chairman or, as the case may be, the speaker of such house and his decision shall be final: provided that where the question which has arisen is as to whether the chairman or the speaker of a house has become subject to such disqualification, the question shall be referred for the decision of such member of the house as the house may elect in this behalf and his decision shall be final (2) all proceedings under sub-paragraph (/) of this paragraph in relation to any question as to disqualification of a member of a house under this schedule shall be deemed to be proceedings in parliament within the meaning of article 122 or, as the case may be, proceedings in the legislature of a state within the meaning of article 212 7 bar of jurisdiction of courts—notwithstanding anything in this constitution, no court shall have any jurisdiction in respect of any matter connected with the disqualification of a member of a house under this schedule 8 rules—(/) subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph (2) of this paragraph, the chairman or the speaker of a house may make rules for giving effect to the provisions of this schedule, and in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, such rules may provide for— (a) the maintenance of registers or other records as to the political parties, if any, to which different members of the house belong; (b) the report which the leader of a legislature party in relation to a member of a house shall furnish with regard to any condonation of the nature referred to in clause (b) of sub-paragraph (/) of paragraph 2 in respect of such member, the time within which and the authority to whom such report shall be furnished; (c) the reports which a political party shall furnish with regard to admission to such political party of any members of the house and the officer of the house to whom such reports shall be furnished; and (d) the procedure for deciding any question referred to in sub-paragraph (/) of paragraph 6 including the procedure for any inquiry which may be made for the purpose of deciding such question  (2) the rules made by the chairman or the speaker of a house under sub-paragraph (/) of this paragraph shall be laid as soon as may be after they are made before the house for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions and shall take effect upon the expiry of the said period of thirty days unless they are sooner approved with or without modifications or disapproved by the house and where they are so approved, they shall take effect on such approval in the form in which they were laid or in such modified forms as the case may be, and where they are so disapproved, they shall be of no effect (3) the chairman or the speaker of a house may, without prejudice to the provisions of article 105 or, as the case may be, article 194, and to any other power which he may have under this constitution direct that any wilful contravention by any person of the rules made under this paragraph may be dealt within the same manner as a breach of privilege of the house]     