A 7-member parliament committee has unanimously passed to dissolute Anti-Defection Act.
The bill on the dissolution of the Anti-Defection Act was submitted to the parliament on October 24. During the fourth sitting of the third session of parliament, the bill was accepted and forwarded to a 7-member committee for deliberation, with a majority of 34 parliamentarians voting in favour.
Delivering the first reading of the bill, Parliamentarian Riyaz Rasheed cited the disadvantages 12 parliamentarians had to face for a large portion of their parliamentary tenure, as the reason behind submitting the bill on the dissolution of the Anti-Defection Act.
However, the parliamentarian representing the ruling party which drafted the Anti-Defection Act was quick to add that, even with the act as it is, there was no contesting the 12 parliamentarians retained their seats. Riyaz said the bill disregards the voice of the masses in favour of the whims of a disciplinary committee of a political party. He proposed the dissolution of the bill in favour of a better designed legislation.
The 12 parliamentarians who claim they were denied their parliamentary rights due to the existence of the Anti-Defection Act, argued against the legislation. They blamed the Anti-Defection Act for the damages they had to bear until the recent Supreme Court verdicts that overturned the declaration of the Elections Commission.