Defection as merger: On politics, the wave of defections

📌 Summary:

• Context: A wave of defections by elected representatives, especially MPs, is sweeping India; six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs are seeking to join the Eknath Shinde faction, exactly two-thirds of the party's Lok Sabha strength
• Core argument: Engineered splits are being dressed up as "mergers" to evade disqualification, rendering the anti-defection law (Tenth Schedule) practically redundant — an affront to representative democracy
• How the law works and is being bypassed (causal chain): (1) Under the Tenth Schedule, a member can be disqualified for voluntarily resigning from their party or defying a party whip during a division (2) A 2003 amendment removed the earlier "split" provision (which let one-third defect) and retained only the "merger" exception, where disqualification does not apply if two-thirds of a party's legislators merge with another party (3) Groups now engineer splits and present them as mergers; the Supreme Court has held a merger cannot be of the legislature party alone and must involve the parent party, but presiding officers keep waving through stretched claims while the Court holds back judgments
• Pattern of defections: TMC rebellion (20 of 28 Lok Sabha MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar aligning with NDA); AAP Rajya Sabha MPs joining BJP (reducing AAP RS strength from 10 to 3 in April); three TMC Rajya Sabha members resigned
• Larger stake: cumulative crossovers boost the ruling NDA's strength in both Houses; the NDA currently lacks the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional amendments, and bypassing that high threshold through defections undermines the Constitution's intent of wide consensus

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 Polity — anti-defection law, Tenth Schedule, role of presiding officers, and erosion of representative democracy.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• The Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) was added by the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985
• The 2003 (91st) Amendment deleted the one-third "split" exception, keeping only the two-thirds "merger" exception
• Disqualification grounds: voluntarily giving up party membership or defying a whip during a division
• Constitutional amendments require a special (two-thirds) majority

🔑 Key Term: Merger exception — a Tenth Schedule provision under which legislators do not face disqualification if at least two-thirds of a party's members agree to merge with another party.