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‘Get candidates who won’t defect’: SC on Goa Congress plea on anti-defection law
The Supreme Court has made it clear that its finding on the anti-defection law will not impact the Goa government, saying the purpose of hearing the petition was to decide the issue of law on defection “academically”
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court responded to requests from the Goa Congress for a ruling on the anti-defection law in the context of 10 legislators switching sides in 2019, saying the party should instead select candidates who will not defect.
The top court’s observation came during the hearing of an appeal filed by Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar against the Bombay high court’s refusal in February this year to disqualify 10 of the Congress’s 15 legislators who switched loyalties to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019.
The 10 Goa Congress legislators in the previous assembly had declared in July 2019 that they were ‘merging’ with the BJP citing a provision in the law that if more than 2/3rd of the legislators of a political party ‘merge’ with another, it will not attract provisions of the anti-defection law.
Given that a new assembly was elected in Goa last month, the bench of justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna was not keen to entertain the case. However, senior advocate and veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram, appearing for Girish Chodankar, submitted that the issue needed a judicial quietus on the anti-defection law as this trend is increasing in states with small legislatures.
“Why don’t you select such candidates who will not defect. Morality has gone down everywhere,” the bench remarked.
Chidambaram said the issue mostly affected smaller legislatures, adding that the temptation, of money or power, is often hard to resist.
“In the state of Goa, there is hardly a member of legislature assembly (MLA) who has not defected more than once,” he added in a lighter vein.
The veteran Congress leader said there were conflicting high court decisions on the issue of whether two-thirds who defect from a party will constitute a valid merger. “There is a need to lay down the law as it renders the anti-defection code under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution ineffective.”
The bench issued notice on the petition and posted the matter for hearing in November.
The judges, however, clarified that the purpose of hearing the petition was to decide the issue of law on defection “academically” and the outcome of this proceeding will not affect the new government that is in place.
Chodankar along with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) approached the Panaji bench of the Bombay high court against the Goa Speaker’s order last year dismissing the disqualification petitions moved by the two political parties. Besides the 10 Congress legislators who became turncoats, two legislators of MGP had also joined BJP. The high court ruled in favour of the 12 MLAs.
The high court verdict said the speaker’s order does not “militate” against the object of the Tenth Schedule on the touchstone of political and constitutional morality. The defected MLAs had claimed that since they constituted two-third strength of their respective legislative party, their joining the BJP was a valid merger and cannot be classified as defection under the Tenth Schedule.
