A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ANTI-DEFECTION LAW THROUGH AN ECONOMIC LENS
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
—-James Madison, The Federalist Papers
Defection is not an unfamiliar term for parliamentary democracies like India. Though the evil practice was present since the pre-independence era, the advent of the multi-party system resulting in coalition governments increased floor crossing. The instabilities in the weak regimes followed by the political turmoil leading to the rise and fall of governments raised the demand for a law on regulating defection. Addressing popular demand, the 52nd Amendment Act of 1985. was brought into the picture which added, the 10th schedule to the constitution. The law was drafted with due care and attention to retain political preferences and the public’s choice. This legislation provided for the disqualification of members in case of defection except for a split or a merger. Subsequently, the law was judicially challenged and judgments were interpreted, where the deterrence effect of the law is highly doubtful. This paper makes an attempt to understand the development of anti-defection law, through judicial interpretations and pointing out the drawbacks of the legislation with the help of economic analysis. To determine the efficiency of the law, economic theories like game theory and public choice theory were applied.
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