Supreme Court has declared that parliamentarians will lose parliament seats on defection, dismissal or resignation from the party, effective from today.
The verdict came following a constitutional matter to Supreme Court by the Attorney General as a public interest litigation in reference to Articles 30, 74, and 75 of the constitution. The verdict was reached by the consensus of the Supreme Court bench.
All the members of the government coalition have earlier pledged their support for the government stand over the constitutional matter. Members of the government coalition stated that the public elects members to the parliament with hard work and great expectations and to defect to another party for financial benefit or personal interests is unacceptable.
Moreover, majority leader of Parliament, Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik has also stated the tradition of defecting parties for financial benefit was introduced by the government of President Mohamed Nasheed.