8 local body members of Kerala disqualified for shifting political parties since 2020

In the two years after the last local body polls of Kerala, eight elected members have been disqualified, under the anti-defection law, said Kerala Election Commissioner A Shajahan. All eight members were replaced by winners of bye-polls conducted in their respective wards. Shajahan was speaking at the inauguration of a workshop conducted as part of observing the 30th year of establishing the State Election Commission, on Saturday, December 3.

Currently, 78 cases are under trial at the Commission which also serves as a civil court. Once the Commission pronounces judgement in cases related to anti-defection, all those who are found guilty will lose their membership. They will also be barred from contesting elections for the next six years.

The anti-defection law which came into effect through the fifty-second amendment to the Constitution was introduced in 1985. It applies to elected members who quit their political party of their own accord or violate the party whip or join a political party after contesting as an independent candidate. The Commission takes action based on a complaint given by another member of the same local body (as the accused) or someone entrusted by the political party (of the accused). The Commission had earlier disqualified 9,014 candidates for not submitting proper accounts of expenditure after contesting the election.

The Kerala local body elections were last held in December 2020, over three days, amid COVID-19 restrictions. The anti-defection law was introduced in India after an estimate showed that almost 50% of the legislators in the Parliament had shifted to other political parties after the elections of 1967 and 1971. It was after that, that the term political party was recognised in the Constitution. In 2003, it was amended to allow provisions for disqualifying members who defected to other parties and barring them from contesting elections for a number of years.