A report from the advocacy group Association for Democratic Reforms reveals that over 111 sitting lawmakers have changed their political affiliations after winning elections between 2022 and 2026. This significant shift highlights ongoing political realignments within parliament and state assemblies.
Composition of Elected Representatives Revealed
A recent report has confirmed that the group of 111 elected representatives comprises 26 members from the Lok Sabha, 7 from the Rajya Sabha, and 78 state legislators.
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla is yet to rule on the merger request. Seeking changes to the existing anti-defection provisions, ADR recommended a bar on appointment of turncoats to public offices, requiring the President rather than the presiding officer to decide disqualification requests for defection on the advice of the Election Commission and designating political parties as public authorities under the right to information law. The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) of Nagaland saw the largest exodus, with 25 lawmakers (23%), followed by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) with 20 (18%) and the Congress with 19 (17%). Together, these three parties accounted for nearly 58% of lawmakers switching parties. The list includes 20 Lok Sabha MPs elected on tickets of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, who have claimed to have merged with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). Other parties included the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (9), Aam Aadmi Party (7), Nationalist Congress Party (7), and Shiv Sena (UBT) (6).
ADR said that while the principles of democracy rely upon ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’ where ‘interest of citizens’ is of paramount importance, this fundamental principle has been skewed by the failing standards of ethical and moral propriety in India’s parliamentary democracy. “The ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ syndrome and the never- ending ‘hunger for power and money’ have become a common practice amongst our legislators and political parties,” the group said in a statement.
