Of all the legislative reforms in India , the anti-defection law is the most abused and violated. And unfortunately, the ruling dispensation of the day always remains ahead of others. Whether Karnataka, Sikkim , Delhi, Haryana or any state, the ruling party BJP has been engineering defections defeating the very purpose for which the law was enacted in 1985.
The Sikkim is the latest state where saffron party succeeded in engineering defections of 10 out of the 13 MLAs of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) to get official opposition party status. The saffron party could not win a single seat in 32 seated Sikkim assembly elections held in May along Lok Sabha polls. Party got 4.71 % of votes polled.
The politics of " abusing people's mandate for personal gains originated way back in 1967 when Gaya Lal, a legislator in Haryana state assembly, defected and changed his party twice in a day, and third time within the fortnight. He did all this to eat the fruits of power. The political situation in the state was then in a flux after the fractured mandate. He took advantage of the situation, and succeeded in his mission. Since then a new phrase of "Aya Ram, Gaya Ram (come and go)" was coined to describe politicians switching parties for money and power.
And thereafter just between 1967 and 1971, as many as 142 defections in Parliament and 1,969 in state assemblies, were engineered, according to PRS research. As many as 212 defectors were rewarded with ministerial berths. Between 1967 and 1983, there were approximately 2,700 defections in assemblies. Interestingly, 15 of defectors become chief ministers. And Haryana created another record in 'defection' when in 1980, Bhajan Lal, the then Janata Party's CM defected to Congress lock, stock and barrel to continue as chief minister after Indira Gandhi returned to power. This brazen act made him notorious for "Aya Ram. Gaya Ram culture.
Alarmed over the this, all political parties agreed To check the defection and the 10th Schedule to the Constitution, referred to as the ‘Anti-Defection Law,' was inserted by the 52nd Amendment in 1985.The grounds of disqualification are specified as: "A member would incur a disqualification under paragraph 2 (1) (a) when he “voluntarily gives up his membership of a party” and under 2 (1) (b) when he/she votes (or abstains from voting) contrary to the directive issued by the party. As the experience shows, these provisos proved inadequate to prevent the defections, especially when ruling party was involved in it. Its abuse remained unabated and continues till date. No party is afraid of this law and flouts it with impunity.
Despite that evil of political defections has been a matter of national concern. no serious attempt has been made to is not combat it. On the contrary, the law is blatantly abused by the very saffron party that still blames Congress for all ills. We must note that defections undermine the very foundations of our democracy and weaken it.
Politics, over the years, in India has become "dhandha" or last refuse of "vested interests". Its, no more., a "jan seva public service. Instead of bringing electoral and legislative reforms, politicians have, greatly, succeeded in reaping the rich harvest of the people's mandate. They get fat tax free salary, perks and facilities and hefty pension. Reluctantly. even top civil servants, big businessmen and celebrities are attracted towards it. not for "Jan Seva"but because of the lucrative monetary and social benefits . This may be good for more and more good and competent people are now joining politics, but defection is a slur on the system. mocks at the democracy .India need to combat it at the earliest.