Defections 'destroying democracy'? Supreme Court weighs in amid plea for CBI probe into TVK
This comes amid high-profile splits in Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), West Bengal's Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Maharashtra's Shiv Sena (UBT) over the past few months
This comes amid high-profile splits in Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), West Bengal's Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Maharashtra's Shiv Sena (UBT) over the past few months.
This comes amid high-profile splits in Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), West Bengal's Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Maharashtra's Shiv Sena (UBT) over the past few months.
This comes amid high-profile splits in Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), West Bengal's Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Maharashtra's Shiv Sena (UBT) over the past few months.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea that the petitioner had tied to the larger issue of defections taking place in some parts of the country, which they had alleged was "destroying democracy".
The plea sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged corruption at the high-stakes trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on May 13, in which the C. Joseph Vijay-led TVK government won.
Repeating allegations of "horse-trading" and huge sums of money being involved in boosting the number of MLAs TVK had past the majority mark for the floor test, the petitioner tied it to the larger issue of politicians switching sides—either under pressure or due to monetary consideration.
"In this country, party leaders are either indulging in corruption by giving bribes, or threatening that family members will be hurt if they don't join the party," Advocate C.R. Jaya Sukin, representing the petitioner, said, as per a Bar and Bench report.
This comes amid high-profile splits in Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), West Bengal's Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Maharashtra's Shiv Sena (UBT), which politicians claimed would happen to Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi Party (SP) as well.
These defections have hurt some of the regional parties in the Parliament, which is expected to play a key role in the upcoming Monsoon Session, that is likely to see the women's quota bill back on the table.
However, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana junked the plea for the CBI probe, pointing out that it was filed "based on vague, wild and casual allegations without any reliable material on record".
In response to the allegations of defections across India, the Bench asked the petitioner to specify which state they were talking of.
"One state in East India and one in Middle India, party leaders are joining other parties ... Speaker must be investigate ... Speakers call media ... they take it and accept the letter and within minutes they join another party," Sukin said.
However, the apex court was not convinced with this, and dismissed the plea.