Congress MP Manish Tewari has introduced a new private member’s bill in Lok Sabha, which aims to free the members from “whip-driven tyranny” and promote “good law-making”.
The bill seeks to amend the Anti-Defection Law and allow parliamentarians to take an independent line in voting on bills and motions other than those affecting the government's stability. It also proposes to amend the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution.
Highlights of the bill
- A member shall incur loss of his membership only when he votes or abstains from voting in the House with regard to a confidence motion, no-confidence motion, adjournment motion, money bill or financial matters, contrary to any direction issued in this behalf by the party to which he belongs to, and in no other case.
- The Chairman or the Speaker of a House shall make an announcement in the House regarding any direction issued by a political party in respect of the aforesaid motions, bill or financial matters, as soon as possible, after such direction has been communicated to him by that political party.
- While making such an announcement, the Chairman or the Speaker of House shall also specifically inform the members that the defiance of the direction issued by a political party by any member shall result in automatic cessation of his membership.
- A member shall have the right to appeal against cessation of his membership to the Chairman or the Speaker, as the case may be, within a period of fifteen days from the date of such cessation and the appeal shall be disposed of within a period of sixty days from the date of its receipt by the Chairman or the Speaker of a House.
Speaking about the bill, Tiwari told PTI that the whip-driven tyranny is not present in any other democracy in the world. He said the proposed legislation seeks to flag who has primacy in a democracy - the elector or the political party.
"This bill seeks to return conscience, constituency and common sense to the echelons of the legislature so that an elected representative actually functions as the representative of the people who elected him and not as an instrument of a whip issued by his party,” he said.
