Defections over just the past few months have raised crucial questions about the future of Indian democracy, crippling the parliamentary and state legislative wings of at least three political parties—the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and, most recently, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. The ruling BJP, backed by the enormous wealth and power of the Central government, is widely believed to have both sponsored the defections and politically benefitted from them, and Opposition parties, anti-establishment groups and commentators are up in arms against what they see as the former crossing red lines that have turned representative democracy in the country into a farce.

However, there is good reason to believe the current predicament facing the democratic process has its roots in the steady corrosion, dating from well before the present regime came to power, of the party system so fundamental to our electoral democracy. If parties start collapsing, if leaders are unable to retain their flock, if self-seeking members are ready to cross the floor for whatever reason—money, threats from investigative agencies or power—it shamelessly debases the popular mandate that elected them. This malady, even though fast-tracked by the focused efforts of the BJP juggernaut, began several decades ago, and the already ugly underbelly of India's much-vaunted democracy has made the task of its present masters that much easier. It is, therefore, important to examine the historical backdrop to today's crisis.

History Of Political Defections

As a matter of fact, public controversy over political defections stretches back........

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