Meant to protect free speech from anti-defection law, ‘merger’ is now a defence for joining a rival party

Parliament designed ‘merger’ arsenic a defence against the misuse of anti-defection instrumentality to stifle intra-party dissent and state of look of legislators. Rajya Sabha Member Raghav Chadha and six different erstwhile Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs person claimed it arsenic a screen to articulation the BJP.

Paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution stipulates that members belonging to ‘any governmental party’ volition beryllium disqualified from the House for defection if they voluntarily springiness up rank of the party. The mentation to Paragraph 2 provides that a legislator is deemed to beryllium to the governmental enactment that acceptable him up arsenic a campaigner for election.