New Delhi [India], June 13 : As a fractured Trinamool Congress (TMC) continues to face a crisis in both Parliament and the state assembly, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Saturday reiterated his demand for major reform in the anti-defection law. He said that the "farce" of the 10th schedule should be done away with and a simpler, more stringent law should be brought in to punish defectors by forcing them to resign and re-contest elections properly.
"I have been advocating for many years that you must repeal all this farce of the 10th Schedule. You must have a 2-line 10th Schedule which says that anybody who is elected on symbol x and party y and who does directly or indirectly any other anti-party activity and joins/support any other party must resign the post he holds and refight the elections," Singhvi told ANI here.
The senior advocate said that a total "wrong interpretation" and a "complete distortion" of the anti-defection law is happening.
"There is a huge complete, ridiculous conceptual distortion that anywhere any legislature party - if so called 2/3rd walk out and form a group then the anti-defection law doesn't apply. This is the most ridiculously wrong interpretation and is based on complete ignorance or deliberate non-understanding of the existing law which has been decided by the Supreme Court," he said.
Referencing the 2022 Supreme Court judgement on the Shiv Sena split, he added, "Pick up and read the Shiv Sena judgment of 2022. There is no concept of a 2/3rds simplicitor in the legislator party which will prevent the application of the 'dal badal' anti-defection law. They will be subject to disqualification. However, in this country, process is the punishment."
The 2022 judgement pertained to a split brought in by Eknath Shinde, seperating from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. Shinde had said that then Chief Minister Thackeray had lost the confidence of the State assembly. Following a letter by now Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to the Maharashtra Governor claiming that Thackeray had lost the house's confidence, the latter was asked to prove that he has majority support in the house.
In the judgement, the Supreme Court said that a 2003 amendment to the 10th Schedule, which deleted paragraph 3, made it so that a defence of a 'split' in a political party is "no longer available to members facing disqualification proceedings".
"The Speaker would prima facie determine who the political party is for the purpose of adjudicating disqualification petitions under Paragraph 2(1) of the Tenth Schedule, where two or more factions claim to be that political party," the SC had said in its judgement.
While Congress leader Singhvi agreed that there is genuine anger within the Trinamool, and that "BJP alone is not the reason" for multiple MLAs and MPs choosing to rebel against the party, he said that it is a mix of the BJP "misusing" agencies, and certain leaders revealing their "immoral" stance by not even leaving their party membership or their seats.
"I am not one of those who think that there is no dissatisfaction, anger in those who have left the TMC. I am also not one of those who think that the BJP alone is the reason for them to leave. But let me make a few points crystal clear. Never before in the 75-80 years of Indian history has any party misused agencies, that includes past BJP Govts and non-Congress Govts, to even 1/10th the extent which this Govt has done," Singhvi said.
While talking about certain leaders leaving the party or rebelling in the Parliament and state assembly, Singhvi said that certain people who have refused to leave the party and their positions in the legislature have shown their "immoral stance."
Singhvi added, "There is a second category of very small number where people have left after 5th May 2026. But they have at least had the moral courage to resign their seats. The third category is the largest, they are not prepared to leave the office, they are not prepared to leave their greediness, they are not prepared to leave anything of the TMC which got them where they are...So, what kind of category is this? This is nothing but immoral."