New Delhi, December 18
Parliament today approved a Constitution Amendment Bill seeking to bar defectors from holding any public office of profit till re-election, besides automatic disqualification from Parliament and state legislatures.
The Rajya Sabha passed the Constitution (97th Amendment) Bill, 2003 with 163 members voting in favour and none against. The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.
Law Minister Arjun Jaitley declared that provisions on the defection would come into force immediately. He said states had been given six months to implement the new measure on limiting the size of the ministry to 15 per cent of the strength of the lower legislature.
Initiating a discussion on the Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said the legislation had become necessary due to the degeneration of the political culture in the country.
“The Bill is an important step towards cleansing the political system, which has gathered a lot of dirt in recent years,’’ he said.
Mr Mukherjee said the Constitution makers did not feel the need for such a provision as political morality was high.
There was nothing wrong in defection if it took place because of difference of opinion, but lately defection had been happening due to vested interests, he said.
The Congress leader said the need for restricting the number of ministers was not felt at the time of Independence as the ministries were small.
He cited the example of West Bengal where a coalition of 13 parties in the fifties had only 15 ministers in the Cabinet when the Assembly strength was around 240.
Of 30 states, only three had cabinets which were less than 10 per cent of the strength of respective assemblies, he said.
Mr B. P. Apte (BJP) said
the
need for stringent law was a commentary on the political culture in the country. There were Supreme Court judgements on defections following such cases in Manipur and Goa, he said.Mr Rama Shankar Kaushik (SP) said powers of the Speaker to decide on defections had not been made clear in the Bill.
Mr K. Chandran Pillai, CPM, however, opposed the provision of prescribing the size of the Cabinet to 15 per cent.
There was no need for prescribing a minimum number for smaller states, he said. He said the right to recall should also be ensured.
Mr Rama Shankar Kaushik, Samajwadi Party, said it was socialist leaders who mooted the idea of bringing an anti-defection law.
Moving the Bill, Mr Jaitley said most recommendations of the Standing Committee of Parliament, headed by Mr Mukherjee, were accepted by the government. These include the suggestion to do away with jumbo cabinets by restricting them to 15 per cent of the size of Lok Sabha or state assemblies.
He said the Bill had a provision under which those cabinets which are more than 15 per cent of the size of legislatures would be given six months after the legislation comes into force to reduce the size.
The Bill provides for omission of paragraph three of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India which gave exemption from disqualification of members of the legislature in case of bulk split of a political party.
A member defecting from one political party to another would also be debarred from holding any public office as a minister or any other remunerative political post for at least the duration of the remaining term of the existing legislature.
