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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, isn't it ironic that just days after PM Modi singled out the NCP for its alleged
00:09corruption to the amount of 70,000 crores, a large chunk of that very party, led by the
00:16very man who is the prime accused in many of these scams, Ajit Pawar, decided to switch
00:21their support to the BJP in the state.
00:24And of course, they were welcomed with open arms.
00:26That pretty much sums up the state of Indian politics today.
00:29It is opportunism and cynicism at its best.
00:32And it's not the first time that this has happened.
00:35But what it does reflect is just how poorly the anti-defection law in this country has
00:41actually worked.
00:42The law was brought in in the mid 80s, essentially to prevent this IRM-Gayaram politics that
00:48India was consistently seeing.
00:50But at the end of the day, it hasn't actually prevented governments from falling.
00:54In fact, wholesale defections are still taking place.
00:58The decision to disqualify or not to disqualify members has to be taken by the Speaker of
01:02the House.
01:03And speakers, today more than ever, are more politically partisan than we have ever seen
01:08them.
01:09Very often, they take years to decide on disqualification pleas because they have no time limit that
01:14is set for them to do so.
01:16And then courts have intervened, making the process very cumbersome, lengthy, and very,
01:21very complicated.
01:22The other purpose of the anti-defection law actually has been to curb the independent
01:28minds of our legislators, MPs and MLAs, because they can't vote on a bill or a legislation
01:34based on their own common sense or their own outlook towards a particular issue.
01:39They have to necessarily toe the party line or they could be disqualified.
01:43So where does that leave our democracy?
01:45It's time to scrap this law and it's time to find a better way to deal with instability
01:51in our governments and to deal with defections.