MP Manish Tewari again introduces Bill to dilute party whips’ powers

Congress MP Manish Tewari has again pushed for changes to India’s anti-defection framework, introducing a private member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha to give MPs greater freedom to vote independently on most legislative issues. The draft law, tabled last Friday, seeks to loosen the grip of party whips on routine parliamentary business and restrict penal consequences to votes that directly test a government’s stability.

Tewari said the long-standing question his proposal sought to address was whether an elected representative should ultimately answer to voters who stood in long queues to elect them or to political parties that bind them to their whip. Stressing that legislators have increasingly become “instruments of party commands”, he said the current system had hollowed out meaningful law-making.

This is the third time the Congress MP has placed this Bill before the House, having attempted similar amendments in 2010 and 2021.

The latest proposal seeks to amend the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution to ensure that MPs and MLAs face disqualification only if they defy the party whip during votes on confidence motions, no-confidence motions, adjournment motions, money bills or any financial matter that could directly affect a government’s survival.

For all other legislative business, he argues, members should be free to vote according to their judgement, constituency needs and conscience.

According to the Bill’s statement of objects and reasons, the Speaker or Chairman of each House will be required to publicly announce any directive issued by a political party relating to the limited categories of votes that may trigger disqualification.

Such announcements must be made as soon as the direction is officially communicated. The Bill also states that any member who loses their seat for defying such a directive will have the right to appeal to the presiding officer within 15 days, with the appeal to be decided within 60 days.

Explaining the broader purpose behind the proposal, Tewari said it seeks to balance two essential democratic goals: ensuring governments remain stable while restoring legislators’ ability to think, research and vote independently.

He noted that parliamentary proceedings have increasingly become mechanical, with low attendance during government business and an unspoken understanding between the treasury and the opposition not to raise quorum issues, largely because many MPs feel they have little role in shaping laws.

Tewari said the rigid whip culture enforced under the Tenth Schedule had no parallel in other democracies. To address this, he proposed creating independent judicial tribunals -- comprising Division Benches of the Supreme Court or high courts -- to adjudicate defection cases, with further appeals before larger constitutional Benches. The bill will now await listing for debate.