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New Delhi, December 15
Amid opposition anxieties with regard to defections and horse-trading, the federal government on Thursday advised Parliament there was no trigger to amend the anti-defection legislation because it had stood the take a look at of time.
‘Simultaneous polls will save big money’
Noting that elections in India are “big budget affairs”, Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Thursday stated within the Rajya Sabha that holding simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies would lead to enormous saving to the exchequer.
Responding to a query within the Rajya Sabha by Congress MP from Karnataka GC Chadrashekhar, who sought to know if the federal government was planning to strengthen the legislation, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju stated “there appears to be no need to amend the law as of now”.
“The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985. It sets the provisions for the disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political party. In the recent past, owing to the implementation of the Tenth Schedule, there has been a substantive decrease in the defection cases. Since the provisions of the Tenth Schedule have stood the test of time and several judicial scrutinies, there does not appear to be any need for carrying out any amendments as of now,” the minister stated.
The reply was in response to a question by Chandrashekhar on whether or not the federal government is conscious that the toppling of state governments throughout the nation has change into frequent and whether or not the federal government is planning to strengthen the anti-defection legislation. The authorities clarification is critical because the opposition has been accusing the BJP-ruled Centre of “stealing mandates state after state”.
Earlier this 12 months, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi authorities fell after a revolt by the ruling Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and majority Sena MLAs. The insurgent Sena faction went on to type a authorities with the BJP.
In 2019, when BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra CM inside 24 hours of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray being declared CM-designate of the Sena-Congress-NCP alliance, the coalition companions had moved the Supreme Court to quash “the arbitrary and malafide actions of state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in swearing in Fadnavis at an 8 am ceremony in Raj Bhavan”.
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