In July 2019 a very interesting phenomenon happened where 10 Congress MLAs en masse defected to BJP party pumping the BJP strength in the assembly to 27 out of 40 which was not surprising to the Goan electorate as the people of Goa have seen many defections earlier. The party which did not have the mandate to rule the state with only 13 MLAs managed to form the government with regional parties like MGP and Goa Forward Party. Thes regional parties instead of supporting the Congress which was the single largest party and given the mandate to rule by the electorate rejecting the BJP party overwhelmingly this regional parties did not having a pre-poll alliance and they fought against the very BJP party candidates which they supported in the end for personal gains. The society did not challenge the defection of the ten Congress MLAs which clearly shows that they have accepted the defections or the the people are waitng to show them the door for the next elections. The Congress party moved a petition in the Supreme Court only to be rejected as the 10 MLAs were within the rule of anti- defection law where the law states in order to avoid disqualification two thirds of the MLAs have to defect to other party and hence the petition of the Congress as expected was rejected by the Supreme Court.
What has happened in Goa and in other states like Puducherry, Assam and MP is that the anti-defection law which was a deterrent to defection is being completely bypassed. What normally happens is that some people who can win elections by their own will whichever party they switch to with thumping majority, the anti -defection law does not protect against these people who are powerful in their own constituencies. Also a strong party or ruling party at the Centre can poach the MLAs by giving them incentives in kind and cash. Hence the anti- defection law needs to be strengthened to make the law full-proof to ensure that defections cannot happen at any stage even if two-thirds or one MLA resigns they should not be given a chance to get re-elected in that term on any other party symbol. If such a laws is implemented than only we can stop defection and 'ayarams' and 'gayarams' of politics.
