Anti-defection law and parliamentary privileges

Constitutional morality was a deep concern of Dr. Ambedkar who set great store by it as is evident from the Constituent Assembly debates. After referring to Grote, the great historian, Dr. Ambedkar stated that "by constitutional morality Grote meant a paramount reverence for the forms of the Constitution, enforcing obedience to authority, acting under and with a habit of open speech, of action subject only to legal control..." Dr. Rajendra Prasad in his concluding address in the Constituent Assembly was at pains to stress the vital importance of character. He solemnly warned that "If the people who are elected are capable and men of character and integrity, they would be able to make the best even of a defective Constitution. If they are lacking in these, the Constitution cannot help the country". It would have been unthinkable to Prasad, Ambedkar and other founding fathers that things would come to such a pass that the Constitution of India would need an amendment to curb, in the words of the Statement of Objects and Reasons to the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment Bill), "the evil of political defections (which) has been a matter of national concern. If it is not combated, it is likely to undermine the very foundations of our democracy and the

principles which sustain it". The painful fact is that today constitutional morality has become irrelevant and any mention of it raises cynical laughter. Corruption, not morality or principles, is the pervasive force in our political life, and its worst manifestation is the spectacle of unabashed defections.

In essence defection is disloyalty, abandonment of duty or principle. The defector is disloyal not only to the party on whose ticket he or she has been elected but also commits a breach of faith with the electorate whose votes were secured on the basis of his or her electoral affiliation and promises. True, there are occasions when considerations of conscience compel a change of convictions and an honourable exit from the political party on whose ticket the candidate was elected. Burke appealed to and depended upon the conscience of the candidate. There can be genuine floor crossings as has happened in the UK, Australia, Canada and the USA and also in the Central Legislative Assembly in India during the pre-independence period.