As the Trinamool Congress grapples with a crisis in both Parliament and the West Bengal Assembly, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi has called for a major overhaul of the anti-defection law.
On Saturday, Singhvi called the existing provisions under the 10th Schedule a “farce” and advocated a simpler and stricter law that would force party defectors to resign and contest re-election.
“I have been suggesting for many years that you should scrap all this farce of the 10th schedule. You must have 2 lines in your 10th schedule saying that any person with any symbol or party and who directly or indirectly does anti-party activities and joins or supports any other party you have to come down.”
The veteran lawyer criticized the interpretation of the anti-defection law, saying there is “a huge complete, ridiculous conceptual distortion” that allows legislators from separate parties to avoid disqualification after a two-thirds defection. He cited the Supreme Court verdict on the split of the Shiv Sena in 2022, saying the interpretation was wrong.
“Pull out and read the Shiv Sena judgment of 2022. Two-thirds of the assembly has no common sense that would prevent anti-defection laws from being applied to ‘party switching’. They should be considered incompetent,” Singhvi said.
The 2022 Supreme Court judgment related to the split of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which challenged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s majority. The court noted that the 10th Schedule amendment in 2003 removed the defense of division in impeachment proceedings and made it mandatory for the Speaker to designate a legitimate political party faction.
Acknowledging genuine frustration within the Trinamool Congress, Singhvi said “BJP alone is not the reason” for the exit of several MLAs and MPs. However, he accused the ruling party of widespread misuse of agencies and condemned members who did not renounce their party membership or legislative posts despite rebelling.
“In 75-80 years of Indian history, no party, including past BJP governments and non-Congress governments, has ever misused agencies even a tenth of what this government has done,” he said.
Singhvi divided the TMC opposition into three groups: those who resigned from their seats, those who left after May 5, 2026 with moral courage, and those who retained their offices and party membership, which he termed as a display of “immoral position”. “So, what kind of class is this? It is nothing but immorality,” he added.