Legislators defect without resigning from elected post, mock the law
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Hyderabad: There appears to be no end to the ongoing game of political musical chairs — legislators elected on one party ticket crossing over to another without resigning from their membership of the House they were elected to.
Even courts have expressed helplessness since the power to take action against these lawmakers vests with the Presiding Officers, who sit on the disqualification petitions for months, or sometimes, years. This is resulting in mockery being made of democracy and ethics going for a toss.
Every time a legislator defects, a hue and cry is made, and it is mostly the party in power which is accused of encouraging defections and thus subverting the people’s mandate etc. This goes on for a few days and the entire scene is repeated the next time fresh defections take place.
Perse, all defections need not be classified as undemocratic. If a legislator elected on the ticket of a particular party decides to cross over to another party for whatever reasons, he or she can do so by resigning from the elected post. This method is healthy and is accepted by one and all.
However, the second style of defections, crossing over to another party without resigning from the elected post, thus continuing to be a legislator of the parent party, is what ignites passions.
Switching sides by four time MLA G. Sayanna (TD) and two time MLC M.S. Prabhakar (Congress) over to the TRS is the latest such example, and surely not the last.
Before 2004, legislators who wish switch sides used to resign from their membership of the House along with their original party, but after Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy came to power in united AP, he started the unethical game of encouraging defections from other parties without the legislators tendering their resignations from membership.
After the initial bonhomie with the TRS, in 2007, YSR encouraged TRS legislators to revolt against the party’s official candidates and support an Independent in the MLC polls.
Though the TRS promptly filed disqualification petitions with the then Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy, by the time he pronounced his verdict, the 2009 General Elections were round the corner.
Law amended twice, poaching continues
The 10th Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with disqualifications on grounds of defections, even after two major Amendments during Rajiv Gandhi regime (1985) and A.B. Vajpaye regime (2003) is apparently not enough to stop ruling parties from luring Opposition members to defect in large numbers.
This is primarily due to the fact that any decision on a disqualification petition filed by the aggrieved political party against the legislator who defects rests with the Speaker or the Chairman.
Herein is the problem. The norm is that the Speakers belong to the ruling party and tend to serve the political needs and compulsions of the ruling party and its leader.
Thus, the element of partiality can never be ruled out, and the delay in not disposing of the petitions or resignations of members is, to put it mildly, “understandable”.
The Presiding Officer will consider the petition for disqualification at his own leisure, conduct an enquiry again at his own leisure and pronounce the verdict taking his own time.
There is no specific rule or law that the Presiding Officer has to complete these formalities in a given time.
On earlier occasions, Presiding Officers used to decide quickly on the resignations submitted by the members, but nowadays, leisure appears to the buzzword.
A case in point is the resignation submitted by TD legislator from Sanathnagar, Talasani Srinivas Yadav on December 17, 2014. About a year later, a decision remains pending.
Similar is the case of Nandyal MP S.P.Y. Reddy. Though it was the first instance of the new set of democracy being practicised in both TS and AP, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan referred the disqualification petition filed by YSR Congress to the Privilege Committee of Lok Sabha.
No decision has been taken even though 18 months have passed by since the defection took place.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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