Context
Recently, while hearing the Shiv Sena factional dispute, the Supreme Court orally observed that a majority of legislators cannot disregard the decisions of their original political party merely because they command greater numerical strength. These are observations during an ongoing hearing, not the Court’s final judgment.
Explanation
- The Tenth Schedule, inserted by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1985, contains the anti-defection law.
- A legislator may be disqualified for voluntarily giving up party membership or defying a valid voting direction.
- The political party is the parent organisation; the legislature party comprises its elected Members of Parliament or Members of Legislative Assembly.
- Legislative majority alone does not automatically make a faction the original party.
- The “split” exemption was deleted; only a merger supported by at least two-thirds of legislators receives protection.
- The Speaker decides disqualification, subject to judicial review.
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