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The anti-defection law has attracted national attention with Raghav Chadha, a member of Rajya Sabha belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and three others leaving AAP to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

Chadha showed a list of seven members of the Rajya Sabha, including himself, as having broken away from the AAP. However, as of now, only Chadha and two others have officially joined the BJP.

Chadha has reportedly submitted a letter to the chairman of Rajya Sabha, C.P. Radhakrishnan, claiming that he and the six others constitute two-thirds of the members of AAP in the Rajya Sabha, therefore the provision of disqualification under paragraph four of the 10th schedule in the anti-defection law would not apply to them. 

This claim needs to be seriously and objectively examined. 

The anti-defection law was enacted in 1985 with the object of preventing political defection where legislators elected on a party ticket leave that party to join, in most cases, the ruling party or topple the incumbent government and help form another government.

This resulted in rampant political instability in states and affected governance in the country. Lust for power was the driving force behind this unethical conduct of India’s legislators. 

A constitution bench of the supreme court in Ashok Desai vs Secretary Governor of Maharashtra, 2023 described the immorality of political defection in the following words “moral and democratic principles are compromised when a legislator shifts allegiance after the electorate votes for that........

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