Inevitable Political Metamorphism in the State of Telangana

“Political Defections”, the most commonly heard words nowadays in Telangana. It is simply a representative elected from one political party shifting to another. Can an MLA or MP elected from one party join another party and still enjoy his membership in the House? Are such defections constitutionally valid? What factors and situations end up in defections? Are they really bad to the Democracy? Can't they be prevented?

What our Constitution says?

As per the Tenth Schedule of Indian Constitution:

“Paragraph 2(1):

Subject to the provisions of paragraphs 4 and 5, a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House—

(a) If he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party; or

(b) If he votes or abstains from voting in such House contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs...”

Say, if a Telangana Telugu Desam Party (TTDP) MLA resigns to his party or joins another political party or doesn't act as per the advice of its President Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu (for instance, if Mr. Naidu says the party to oppose any Bill in Telangana Legislature and the candidate votes in favor), then he will be disqualified to be an MLA, unless either such a defection has been condoned by the party or protected constitutionally by Para 4 and 5 of Tenth Schedule.

“Paragraph 4:

Disqualification on ground of defection not to apply in case of merger—

(1) A member of a House shall not be disqualified under sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 2 where his original political party merges with another political party—

The merger of the original political party of a member of a House shall be deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger”

TTDP exclaim that their MLAs resigned the party at different times and not together, hence, as soon as one resigns, he is disqualified to be an MLA, eventually, at the time of resignation of the last MLA, since the previous resignations already stand disqualified to be MLAs, they cannot come together and form two-third majority.

Argument seems cool. But it is to be noted that a specific time period to act on the defections finds no mention in the Tenth Schedule.

When do the defections stand disqualified?

The Speaker of the Parliament or a State Legislative Assembly is a quasi-judicial office and his decision will be final in case of defections, subject to the judicial review of higher courts like the Supreme Court or any High Court. At the same time we have to remember that the Speaker is non-partisan, he doesn't belong to either Ruling party or any other party for that matter, and takes decisions independently. It is up to the Speaker to decide; he has to perceive the Political environment and anticipate the prospective politics.

In case of political defections in Telangana, the Speaker could have disqualified the defectors immediately, in which case, the elections should be held within 6 months. Since Telangana is a new State, there will probably be defections as part of Political Metamorphism and Political Restructuring, therefore, the Speaker shouldn't take excessively quick decisions, instead should act wisely. If he had disqualified all the then defections immediately, we would have had 10 bye-elections by now, for 10 political defections from TTDP into the Ruling party Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), a waste of public exchequer. Hence the delay is a just cause and the defections are constitutionally valid only after the merger of TTDP Legislature Party into TRS.

Ultimately, "Interpretation" is vital in understanding, the spirit of our Constitution, which many of our politicians can't.

Now the question arises - Are defections good and can't they be prevented?

Nevertheless, I am NOT of an opinion that the political defections are good. Any kind of political defection is bad for Democracy. Political defections can generally be controlled in normal situations, but in few extraordinary instances like the creation of a new State or a new Party, the situation is beyond one's control.

In case of Telangana, for the now existing and happening defections, one cannot push the entire blame towards the ruling TRS Party. We have seen many instances in the past, where defections were inevitable, in case a new State or new Political Party has been created. It’s a part of Power Game. Powers and strengths and capacities will be altered every time a new Sate or Party is being created, which will automatically lead to the balancing of power.

For instance, when political parties like TDP (in Andhra Pradesh) or DMK (in Tamilnadu) were created, half of the joiners were previously Congressmen. When Jharkhand was created, RJD was stripped off completely in Jharkhand, because the Party strength, Mr. Lalu will only be a Bihari.

In such scenarios, obviously someone gains at the cost of some others pain. Parties and States may be created in no time, but one cannot put a "No Entry" board and prohibit the migrations, because in case of formation of a new State or Party, we cannot create new people or party men in parallel, which ultimately ends up in reshuffling the party men among different parties. The Strongest stand and the Weakest vanish - as simple as this.

Similarly whether one agrees or not, one day, TTDP will be emptied entirely in Telangana because its power and strength Mr. Naidu will be in AP and not in Telangana. Despite projecting themselves as a party of Telugites, they cannot act in an unbiased manner. For instance, say, tomorrow if the TDP forms government in Telangana and there arises some inter-state dispute between AP and Telangana, whose side will TDP take? Emphatically, the side of the AP, even though CM is a Telanganite, as per its President's advice. Today, people of Telangana very well know that TDP is synonymous with "Andhra Desam Party" and no more "Telugu Desam Party". In such a scenario, obviously, as part of the balance of power, the power shifts towards home parties like TRS or national parties like Congress or BJP. As of now, since Congress and BJP don't have a face value in Telangana, there is only one option left i.e., TRS. Tomorrow, once Congress and BJP start getting stronger, by all odds, there can be migrations into them even. Ultimately, no one can dare to go into or stay in TTDP.

Who is to be blamed them?

If someone has to take the blame, in spades, it should be TDP, for its biased policies towards AP against Telangana, because of which it is losing a spirit of trust among the people of Telangana. Why would the people of Telangana like to stay, in all likelihood, in a dead party, at the cost of their bright political future? TRS has a wonderful public mandate and it doesn't need MLAs of other parties or migrations to run the government, but in lieu, it is they, the defectors, who need TRS to stand with them, for their political future. TRS is just increasing its strength as part of the inevitability created, which is even beyond the ambit of TRS to forbid.

The political parties should know their scope and ambit of operation. The YSR Congress Party has to be applauded in this context, which realized it early and limited itself to AP, thereby increasing their probability of winning next elections. On the other hand, TDP, which calls itself a National Party, is losing game in both the States. According to the Election Commission of India, a party will be a National Party only if it wins 6% of total MLAs in 4 or more States or 2% of MPs, i.e., 11 MPs in 3 or more States or should be recognized as a State Party in 4 or more States. I wonder how TDP is a National Party, when the Rules clearly say that a party should have elected representatives to either State Legislature or Parliament from at least 3 States (merely winning a local body seat in Andaman and Nicobar Islands doesn’t make it a National Party). In addition, they proudly acclaim Mr. Lokesh as TDP National Chief Executive, a self-created post, which no one understands what exactly it is.

Moving in the direction of making it a National party, it is said that TDP is trying to get a grip in Karnataka and Tamilnadu, with the motto of protecting the rights of Telugu people, and with the notion - 'Telugu Jati'. In fact, once they are settled in Karnataka and Tamilnadu, they are Kannadigas and Tamils respectively and no more Telugites.

My solemn request to TDP - "Please don't try to divide the people, who are already living in harmony and concord in non-Telugu speaking States, by painting them with the regional color, just for the sake of making your party a National Party".