Anti-defection law in India – Constitutional amendments

Anti-defection law was brought in India on 01 March, 1985 by 52^nd amend­ment in the Con­sti­tu­tion of India after amend­ing the pro­vi­sions of Arti­cles 101, 102, 190 and 191 of the Con­sti­tu­tion of India by insert­ing Sched­ule No. 10.  Anti Defec­tion Law pro­vides for dis­qual­i­fi­ca­tion of mem­bers from par­lia­ment and assem­bly in case of defec­tion from one party to other.  Fur­ther amend­ment was made by 91^st amend­ment by amend­ing Arti­cles 75 and 164 of the Con­sti­tu­tion of India by insert­ing Arti­cle 361B and also mak­ing amend­ment of Sched­ule 10.  The said amend­ment came into force wef 1^st Jan­u­ary, 1004 and mainly the amend­ment was to restrict the size of coun­cil of min­is­ters to 15% of leg­isla­tive mem­bers & to strengthen Anti Defec­tion laws.  The major basis for dis­qual­i­fi­ca­tion were as under:-

1.  if he vol­un­tar­ily gives up the mem­ber­ship of the polit­i­cal party on whose ticket he is elected to the House;

2. if he votes or abstains from vot­ing in the House against any direc­tion of the polit­i­cal party or by any per­son or author­ity autho­rized by it in this behalf, with­out the party per­mis­sion , of such party and unless it has been con­doned by the party within 15 days from the date of vot­ing or absten­tion; or

3. if any nom­i­nated mem­ber joins any polit­i­cal party after the expiry of 6 months from the date on which he takes his seat in the House.

List of amend­ments of the Con­sti­tu­tion of India

Anti-defection law in India – Constitutional amendments