Congress Defection | Prominent Faces Who Quit And The Laws Around It

In the midst of the Assembly elections 2022, Congress has been faced with a fresh setback following the resignation of senior party leader Ashwani Kumar on Tuesday. The grand old party, that has always accused its national opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of poaching leaders and destabilising governments, is reeling under a similar situation in the face of polls across several states. While Union Minister Ashwani Kumar quit Congress, ending his 46-year association with the party citing, other Congress leaders in the recent past have switched parties to fight elections. 

Handing over his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, Ashwani Kumar had stated, “Having given my thoughtful consideration to the matter, I have concluded that in the present circumstances and consistent with my dignity, I can best subserve larger national causes outside the party fold.” 

Kumar leaves in the midst of assembly polls in five states and ahead of the February 20 election in Punjab. His resignation comes close on the heels of a spate of resignations, the most recent being that of another former union minister R P N Singh. A number of other party leaders who have quit Congress include Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Sushmita Dev and Louisinho Faleiro.

Big faces of Congress who switched parties 

1. Jyotiraditya Scindia

One of the most prominent faces (former) of Congress, Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party in March 2020, leaving Kamal Nath’s government in Madhya Pradesh in a political crisis. Along with Scindia, 22 other Congress legislators, including six ministers, tendered their resignations. Scindia’s resignation had come moments after he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. A day after his quitting, he joined the BJP and within hours, the ruling party announced him as a Rajya Sabha candidate. During his speech at the BJP headquarters, Scindia had heaped praises on BJP while slamming the Kamal Nath government for failing its promises. 

2. Jitin Prasada

In June 2021, former Union Minister and prominent face of the Congress’ young brigade, run by Rahul Gandhi, Jitin Prasada had quit the party to join the BJP. Citing his reason for defection, he had said that it was a “naya adhyay (new chapter)” in his political journey. He further stated that the BJP is the only “institutionally national party” and being a part of the saffron party, would allow him to serve the national interests of the country. Prasada is the son of late Congress leader Jitendra Prasada who was considered close to the late Rajiv Gandhi.

3. Sushmita Dev 

Congress’ former face in Assam, Sushmita Dev had quit the party and joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC)  in August 2021. The former Silchar MP (Member of Parliament), Dev was the national spokesperson of the Congress and the chief of the All India Mahila Congress. She sent her resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in a letter dated August 15 but didn’t mention any reasons for her resignation. A few days later, she flew to Kolkata and joined the TMC in the presence of the party’s national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee. 

4. Louisinho Faleiro

In September 2021, former Congress leader and ex-chief minister of Goa Luizinho Faleiro quit Congress, ending his 40 years association with the grand old party and days later joined TMC in West Bengal. The defection of Faleiro, one of the tallest leaders in Goa and an MLA from Navelim, came as a big blow to Congress. He was made the head of the coordination committee in the election committees, then released for Goa. 

What does data say about Congress defection? 

In 2021, a data analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) revealed that 45 per cent of MLAs who have switched parties and contested elections again between 2016 and 2020 have joined the BJP. And 42 per cent of the MLAs, who defected, left Congress. 

The report further revealed that 405 MLAs, who defected, 170 of them were from Congress and BJP was seen to be the party of choice for defecting MLAs, who contested the polls. 

Laws around defection 

According to reports, the Supreme Court lately has been adjudicating defection-based disqualification petitions from different state legislative assemblies. 

On the flip side, in the face of Goa’s deduction history, reports have claimed that there is a need for the Goa legislative assembly to introduce a State amendment in the Central Anti Defection Act to make party-hopping a criminal offence.

The Anti-Defection law, which came into force on March 18, 1985, laid down how an MP could be disqualified if he joined another party or defied the party whip by remaining absent during a crucial vote. Rajiv Gandhi had introduced the new Bill in the Parliament following a huge chunk of the defection of lawmakers, who switched to Congress after it won the elections. However, this law permits mergers and splitting of political parties. 

Challenging the law in the Rajasthan High Court, Sachin Pilot and his MLAs from the Congress' Rajasthan constituency argued that that freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1) (a) should override a clause prohibiting any defiance (on grounds of conscience) of a party whip.