Amend
anti-defection act, but...
Sandesh Prabhudesai
24 April 2003
Goa, a tiny state that has created history in defections
in the country, has welcomed the decision to amend the anti-defection
act, but with a caution.
The union government has finally decided to amend the 10th
schedule of the constitution, by deleting the clause that
allows one third legislators or parliamentarians to split.
The second decision is to trim down the ministry size to
10 per cent of the size of the House, in case of big states
and the Parliament. It would however be restricted to only
seven in smaller states like Goa, having 30 to 40 legislators.
"I fully support the move", said chief minister
Manohar Parrikar. He presently heads the BJP-led coalition
government, supported by five members of the two regional
parties in a 40-member House.
Pratapsing Rane, the state opposition leader of the Congress,
however supports the move with reservations. "Such a
patchwork would corrode the existing system further. We need
to have a second look at the Constitution itself, changing
the whole system", he feels.
After granting statehood and increasing the strength of the
House from 30 to 40, since 1990, Goa elected four Assemblies
with two premature dissolutions, due to the defection virus.
In 12 years, the tiny state witnessed 13 chief ministers due
to defections being carried out 21 times, involving 80 defectors.
Even Parrikar became the BJP's first chief minister in October
2000 by engineering defections within the majority Congress
and converting his opposition party into ruling overnight.
To strengthen his position further, he then got the House
dissolved.
Parrikar however feels that the constitutional amendment
should apply the rule of disqualification only when selective
whips are defied, which deal with policy matters and survival
of the government. The powers to disqualify should also continue
in the hands of the speaker, but with a specified time limit,
he adds.
Though four of his 13 ministers belong to the two coalition
partners, Parrikar feels he could continue to rule even if
the cabinet size is restricted to seven. "Stability has
nothing to do with the number", he quips.
Rane, who was also the speaker during the last defection
era, however strongly feels that the powers to disqualify
should be given to the judiciary. "No speaker can be
impartial, since he belongs to a particular party", he
feels.
Though he had also once proposed to trim down the cabinet
size to 10 per cent, a victim of defections twice in the past,
Rane refuses to believe that 7-member ministry would bring
stability. "The power-hungry politicians would find new
loopholes to continue their corrupt rule", he opines.
According to him, rather than following the British or the
American system, India needs to evolve a new system that would
elect the prime minister and chief ministers directly while
giving them total powers to select their ministers, even if
they are not elected. "The legislators should only legislate
and go home", he adds.
Pointing out at the political circus the NDA is presently
involved in at the centre, Rane wonders whether the government
would be in a position to amend the anti-defection act. Instead,
he feels, the committee on constitutional amendment should
look into the whole Parliamentary system.
"Otherwise, India would not be able to march ahead by
facing challenges of the 21st century", quips the former
chief minister, who had once ruled continuously for a decade
with mere four to five ministers, until he was toppled in
1990 by his partymen.
Goa's history
of defections
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