Defector to lose seat: Bill introduced

New Delhi, May 16: A Constitution Amendment Bill which seeks to disqualify a defector from his continued membership of Parliament or State Legislature was introduced to-day by the Home Minister, Mr. Uma Shankar Dixit, in the Lok Sabha on the last day of its budget session. Any member of Parliament or State Legislature changing his political allegiance, except as a result of a split in his party, will forfeit his membership after this anti-defection law comes into force. The Bill also stipulates that the Prime Minister or Chief Minister should be a member of the Lok Sabha or the Legislative Assembly to ensure that they are directly elected by the people to the lower Houses and not indirectly inducted into the upper Houses. But it does not dispense altogether with the existing provision in the Constitution which entitles one to become a Prime Minister or Chief Minister without being a member of the Lower House of Parliament or State Legislature so long as he seeks election to it within six months from the date of his appointment. An offending member is liable to be disqualified under this Bill not only for defecting from the political party which had set him up as a candidate in an election or which he joined after an election, but also for voting or abstaining from voting in defiance of the whip issued by his party without obtaining his prior permission. But the President or the Governor, as the case may be, cannot entertain any question regarding such a disqualification of a member of Parliament or State Legislature in pursuance of this legislation unless the matter has been referred to him “by the political party or any person or authority authorised by it in this behalf.”