As a step towards ensuring that morality prevails on the political turf the
Anti-defection law came into force in 1985. However this has had no effect
in stemming the endemic of political defections by legislators who are
motivated by the lure of power and monetary gains.
It was expected that the Speakers of the Legislative Assemblies would be
non-partisan and sever all ties with their political party after assuming
the office of Speaker. But this has not happened, and we have witnessed how
the Goa Speaker Rajesh Patnekar has been prolonging since 2019 the election
petitions pending against those 12 MLAs. Speaker Patnekar has been
availing every possible excuse under the sun to delay the disposal of those
election petitions to benefit the MLAs who defected, allegedly in clear
contravention of the constitutional framework.
Not to defeat the very intent of the law, there is a need to ensure that
election petitions relating to the Anti- Defection law should be decided
very expeditiously in a time bound manner by an independent authority
possibly the Courts and not by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or Legislative
Assemblies who instead of being fair and independent have proven to be
acting as partisan tools of the ruling party.
We need to ensure that by law those elected are held accountable for their
deeds and misdeeds. The legal maxim, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’
seems to be a norm or the rule rather than an exception for unscrupulous
politicians and those desperate to abuse the rule of law and to deny people
their constitutional and democratic rights.
The intent of the law was to prevent corruption by way of horse-trading and
to debar defecting MPs and MLAs from holding public office for five years
and from contesting the next election if they defect.
Goa may be India’s smallest State but has become a laboratory for every
possible political experiment and has shown the nation the ways and means
to circumvent the Anti- Defection law, with political prostitution and
party turncoats at its very hilt. We have sadly witnessed midnight
defections where the Governor has been swearing in Ministers in the wee
hours of the morning.
There is an urgent need to legally plug the loopholes in the Anti-
Defection law which has proven to be indeed a defective legislation. Nobody
is above the law and therefore justice must not only be done, but must be
seen to be done in a timely manner.
Lawmakers have a fundamental and moral duty to lead by example and must
never be law breakers or abuse the trust that people have vested in them.
Authentic Leadership can only be practiced through ethical Governance.
These defections and the lack of will by the Speaker and others to deal
with these abuses fairly and urgently, erodes trust in politicians and the
system and shows that corruption is at an all-time high while integrity is
at an all-time low.
Aires Rodrigues
Advocate High Court
C/G-2, Shopping Complex
Ribandar Retreat,
Ribandar – Goa – 403006
Mobile No: 9822684372
Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012
Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com
Or
airesrodrig...@yahoo.com
You can also reach me on
Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues
Twitter@rodrigues_aires
www.airesrodrigues.com
