Congress MP Manish Tewari has introduced a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha proposing a significant restructuring of the Anti-Defection Law to grant MPs greater freedom in voting. The bill argues that lawmakers should exercise independent judgment on most legislative matters instead of being compelled to follow party-mandated whips, except in situations that directly determine the survival of a government.
This is Tewari’s third attempt to reform the law, after similar proposals in 2010 and 2021. The latest bill seeks to amend the Tenth Schedule so that MPs can be disqualified only when defying the party whip during confidence motions, no-confidence motions, adjournment motions, money bills, and other financial matters. Outside these areas, MPs would be permitted to vote based on constituency demands and personal assessment of legislation rather than a party directive.
Tewari has called the current framework “whip-driven tyranny,” arguing that it reduces elected representatives to numerical instruments rather than deliberative legislators. He said the bill attempts to restore “conscience, constituency and common sense” to parliamentary functioning, insisting that meaningful debate has declined because members no longer believe their individual opinion influences outcomes.
The bill lays out procedural safeguards, requiring party directions on the specified motions to be formally announced in the House by the Speaker or Chairman. Any defiance would trigger an automatic cessation of membership, though MPs would have the right to appeal within 15 days. The presiding officer would be obligated to decide the appeal within 60 days.
Tewari stressed that the proposal balances government stability with parliamentary autonomy. He maintained that participation in lawmaking has become largely symbolic, with bills drafted by the bureaucracy, tabled by ministers with minimal debate, and passed through rigid enforcement of whips. He argued that the Anti-Defection Law has not reduced defections but transformed their scale — from individual defections in the 1960s to mass defections in later decades — resulting in entire parties shifting allegiances in recent years.
In addition to relaxing the whip rules, the bill advocates the creation of judicial tribunals outside Parliament to decide defection cases. For Parliament, it proposes a two-tier mechanism involving a Supreme Court division bench with potential appeals before a five-judge bench. State legislatures would follow an equivalent structure to the high courts.
Although private members’ bills seldom become law, the proposal has already revived long-standing debate on how to preserve democratic stability without suppressing the autonomy of individual legislators.
