Is the letter of ten MLAs belonging to Telugu Desam party enough for the speaker to permit merger of the rebel group with TRS? There is some interpretation problem involved in provision that deals with the merger in Anti-defection law.
The letter written by Errabelli Dayakar Rao and his colleagues says they form the two thirds of the Telugu Desam Legislature party and hence they become the original TDP. So, they argued that they should be permitted to merge the rebels’ TDP with TRS.
This argument looks perfect who has no knowledge of the Ninety-first Amendment passed in 2003. As per the new amendment, Errabelli’s argument doesn’t hold water. His argument would have been correct before 2003 when split of the party was recognized.
The Tenth Schedule as added to the Constitution by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985 contained a provision (paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule) to the effect that no member will be disqualified from the membership of the House where he makes a claim that he and any other members of his legislature party constitute a group representing a faction which has arisen as a result of a split in his original political party and such group consists of not less than one third members of the legislature party concerned.
Before 2003, split in political parties were too frequent and the legal protection offered by this provision helped Aaya Rams and Gaya Rams. So, the union government wanted to do away with claims of split of the political parties.
This protective provision (paragraph 3) was omitted from the Tenth Schedule by the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003, which came into force with effect from 1 January, 2004. Consequent upon the omission of Paragraph 3, it is not rpt not now permissible to claim a split in the legislature party.
So, as per the recent provision, Errabelli can’t claim split or main party status just because they constituted two third of Telugu Desam Legislature Party which has 15 members and claim immunity from the provision of anti-defection law.
Recent example of merger is the merger of Chirajeevi’s PRP with Congress, which was a lengthy process. The process is not helpful to the Errabelli and Co. So, the case of merger discussed in the Anti-defection is limited to this -No member should be disqualified from the membership of the House where his original political party merges with another political party and he claims that he and any other members of his original political party have become members of the other political party or of the newly formed political party provided not less than two third of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger. This is not the case here.
Against this background, it is not easy for the speaker of Telangana Assembly to give ruling on the merger based on a memorandum submitted by the rebel TDP MLAs, who crossed floor, in the absence of provision to recognize their split.
