New Delhi: The youth-led forum Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Monday backed senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal’s proposal to impose a ban on MPs and MLAs who defect from their political parties, with national convener Abhijeet Dipke calling it the “need of the hour”.
Sibal, while delivering a talk on ‘Horse Trade and Democracy’ in Kochi, Keralam, called for changes to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution so that party mergers don’t act as “loopholes for mass walkouts”.
He highlighted that, under current law, a defection does not lead to disqualification if two-thirds of the legislative party members cross over to another party, treating it as a merger.
Sibal emphasised the need to amend the Tenth Schedule to close this “loophole” and ensure that “a merger is a merger of political parties and not a collective walkout by legislators”.
Saurav Das, the co-convener of CJP, supported the proposal, pointing out that it aligns with their first demand charter.
“Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal’s proposal to ban any MP and MLA who gets elected on Party X’s symbol and later defects to Party Y for money or under pressure should be welcomed. He calls for a 10-year ban,” he said.
Das added that point 5 of CJP’s first demand charter, released by Abhijeet Dipke, proposed even stricter measures: banning individuals from holding any public office or contesting elections for 20 years.
“Breaking political parties, bribing MPs with 50-100 crore, toppling governments is a fraud committed on the country. Such fraud should never happen. The Anti-Defection law is outdated. The ruling party has ensured its misuse in its lust for eternal power. The young will change this,” he said.
Dipke reiterated the demand as the “need of the hour,” stating in a post on X, “Any elected representative who switches parties after being elected should be barred from holding public office.”
The issue of defections has gained renewed focus amid the ongoing split in the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha and the West Bengal Assembly.
In the Lok Sabha, 20 of the TMC’s 28 MPs have announced that they are leaving the party and joining the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), while extending support to the BJP-led NDA.
This situation has brought the anti-defection law and its two-thirds merger provision into sharper focus.
In West Bengal, the faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee is seeking recognition as the TMC, staking claim to the party’s name, organisational control, assets and election symbol. The faction has claimed the support of a majority of the party’s newly elected MLAs.
The Election Commission has begun to assess the competing claims of both the Ritabrata and Mamata Banerjee factions.
The developments have put the spotlight on the provision in the Tenth Schedule that protects legislators from disqualification when two-thirds of a legislature party is deemed to have merged with another political party.
The TMC developments follow the decision of seven Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MPs to join the BJP earlier this year, with the group also invoking the two-thirds merger provision.
This issue also echoes previous splits within the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.
In 2022, Eknath Shinde led a majority of Shiv Sena MLAs away from Uddhav Thackeray, resulting in a government change, while in 2023, Ajit Pawar split the NCP and joined the BJP-led government with a group of party legislators.
