Watch | Anti-Defection Law & Panel for Choosing ECs Must Be Reformed: Ex-I&B Minister
Manish Tewari, a former Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Congress MP from Chandigarh, who has introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha seeking to amend the Anti-Defection Law, believes that as it stands the law has completely failed to prevent defections whilst, contrarily, it’s throttling democracy by converting MPs and MLAs into mere "voting machines" for their party leadership. As a result, it has stripped them of their "imperatives of constituency, conscience and common sense."
Tewari also believes the collegium for choosing the CEC and ECs must be expanded to include both the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. That would ensure that the government and the opposition have equal weightage in the collegium. This, he believes, is essential to restore and protect the credibility of the Election Commission.
This article went live on December seventeenth, two thousand twenty five, at fifty-one minutes past one in the afternoon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
