Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Petition Challenging Anti-Defection Law in India

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the petition of Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal regarding the anti-defection law. Kapil Sibal has requested the Supreme Court in the petition to reconsider the interpretation of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, under which MLAs and MPs can avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law by claiming to have merged with another party. The bench of Justice P. S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe has issued a notice to the Central Government on Kapil Sibal's petition. The court has said in the notice that there are many issues in this matter that need to be considered by the Parliament. The anti-defection law was brought in 1985 to prohibit MPs-MLAs from changing parties. The year 1951 to 1967 saw a large number of developments because it was easy to do so. Because of this, the anti-defection law was brought through the 52nd amendment in the Constitution in 1985 and it was added to the 10th list. Under this, if an MP or another MLA leaves the party, its membership will not be decided by the Parliament.