RAS question
The Anti-Defection Law (Tenth Schedule) applies when an MLA in Rajasthan:
Correct answer: (D) Voluntarily gives up party membership or votes against party whip.
The Anti-Defection Law under the Tenth Schedule applies to a Rajasthan MLA who voluntarily gives up party membership or votes or abstains against the party's authorised direction without prior permission.
Explanation
The Tenth Schedule deals with disqualification on the ground of defection and covers members of a State Legislative Assembly, so it applies to MLAs in Rajasthan. For a member belonging to a political party, disqualification is attracted if the member voluntarily gives up membership of that party. It is also attracted if the member votes, or abstains from voting, in the House contrary to a direction issued by the party or its authorised person or authority, unless prior permission was obtained or the act is condoned within the stated period. That is why the operative trigger is not mere absence, criticism, or a change of constituency, but conduct that legally amounts to defection under the Schedule.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Absence from one session is not, by itself, the Tenth Schedule trigger; the Schedule concerns voting or abstaining contrary to an authorised party direction without permission or condonation.
- (B) Changing constituency does not amount to giving up party membership or voting or abstaining against a party direction, so it is outside the anti-defection ground stated here.
- (C) Criticising party leadership may be politically awkward, but the stated legal ground is voluntarily giving up membership or breaching an authorised voting direction, not criticism alone.
Concept
This tests the constitutional mechanism for legislative stability under the Tenth Schedule. It recurs in RAS because State Assembly procedure, party discipline, and disqualification of MLAs are core parts of Rajasthan polity.