Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Friday told the Lok Sabha that there was no proposal to amend the anti-defection law.
Mr. Meghwal’s written response was to an unstarred question from BJP MP Dharmendra Kashyap on whether the government proposes to strengthen the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
“There is no proposal to amend the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India i.e. Anti-Defection law,” Mr. Meghwal said.
The Tenth Schedule provides for the prevention of defection of elected and nominated members from a political party, and contains stringent provisions for curbing the menace of legislators switching over to other parties.
In July last year, at a meeting of presiding officers, chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, no consensus could be reached on amending the law. Mr. Birla had stated that Constitution experts, legal scholars and other stakeholders would be consulted on the matter.
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There were divergent views among the members of a panel that examined the law. While the majority view was in favour of giving more power to the Presiding Officer of the House, there was a section that favoured empowering the head of the political party.
