FOUR DECADES OF FAILURE

Almost 40 years since the enactment of the anti-defection law, it is widely accepted that the law has been ineffective in stopping wholesale defections and toppling of governments

- SONI MISHRA

Two states going to polls are integral to the story of the anti-defection law-Haryana and Maharashtra. While Haryana provides the historical backdrop for the enactment of the law, the large-scale defections and change of regime in Maharashtra that took place more recently is the peg on which the demand for an amendment in the law rests. The Haryana politician Gaya Lal is legendary.

His astounding political somersaults after the first assembly elections in the state in 1967 earned him notoriety that has long survived him. The Congress had won the election with a slim majority, getting 48 out of 81 seats, and the government had fallen less than a week after it was formed. Amid the political chaos, Lal, who was an independent legislator and in great demand, changed parties four times in one day-from the Congress to the Janata Party, back to the Congress, again to the Janata Party and then once again back to the Congress! Two weeks later, he had joined the rival United Front. In the intervening period, he had also joined the Arya Sabha and the Bharatiya Lok Dal.