Anti-defection under the Tenth Schedule

Party stability is bought at the cost of a legislator's deliberative independence. That is the trade the Tenth Schedule makes explicit. Inserted by the 52nd Amendment, 1985, it disqualifies a member who voluntarily gives up party membership or votes against the party's direction. The 91st Amendment, 2003 deleted the one-third split exemption, leaving only a two-thirds merger as the remaining escape route. The presiding officer decides under paragraph 6; paragraph 7's attempt to oust judicial review was struck down in Kihoto Hollohan (1992). An undefined deadline for the presiding officer's decision has in practice made resignation and re-election the route around disqualification.

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