Congress has killed its own anti-defection law: Vinod Kumar

BRS leader Vinod Kumar on Wednesday said the Speaker’s ruling on five MLAs’ defections has rendered the anti-defection law toothless, accusing the Congress of undermining the 10th Schedule and calling for urgent constitutional reforms

Hyderabad: BRS leader and former MP B Vinod Kumar said on Wednesday that the Congress party had brought the anti- defection law and now the same party had killed it.

Reacting to Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar’s ruling on the defection of five MLAs, he said the decision sets a dangerous precedent. “You can defect from your party, but as long as you tell the Speaker you didn’t, that’s sufficient. This is what Speaker Prasad’s verdict implies,” he said, asserting that the ruling had rendered the anti-defection law toothless.

---

Calling the Speaker’s ruling a direct assault on democratic principles, he accused the Congress government of undermining the anti-defection law enshrined in the 10th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. He argued that the Speaker’s verdict effectively renders the landmark legislation introduced by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi obsolete.

“The Speaker’s decision is like taking an axe to democracy,” Vinod Kumar stated, pointing out that the MLAs themselves admitted to changing parties for the sake of development in their constituencies.

“Yet, the Speaker claims they did not defect. How accurate is that?” he questioned, calling for urgent constitutional reforms, emphasizing the need for an amendment to the 10th Schedule to strengthen anti-defection provisions.

“Parliament must immediately enact a special law on party defections to prevent such loopholes,” he urged.

Directly targeting the Speaker’s judgment, Vinod Kumar drew parallels to the anti-defection law brought in by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, aimed at curbing political horse-trading.

“The ruling by Speaker Prasad Kumar has proved that the law introduced by Rajiv Gandhi is utterly ineffective,” he said.

Kumar further accused the Congress party of hypocrisy, noting, “The Speaker and the Congress party have essentially told the people of this nation that Rajiv Gandhi’s anti-defection law under the 10th Schedule is a useless piece of legislation.”