BPSC 70th CCE Re-exam Prelims General Studies · Question 73 of 142

Correct — B, Tenth Schedule. The Schedule is headed, in the Constitution's own words, 'Provisions as to disqualification on ground of defection', and it is attached to Articles 102(2) and 191(2) — the disqualification clauses for members of Parliament and of State legislatures respectively. It was added by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985 with effect from 1 March 1985. Paragraph 2 sets out the two ordinary grounds verbatim: a member is disqualified 'if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party', or 'if he votes or abstains from voting in such House contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs … without obtaining … the prior permission of such political party' and the voting or abstention 'has not been condoned … within fifteen days'. Paragraph 4 provides the one surviving escape: a merger, which is deemed to have taken place 'if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger'. There used to be a second escape — paragraph 3, which protected a split by one-third of a legislature party — and it was omitted by the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003 with effect from 1 January 2004, precisely because engineered one-third splits had become the standard way round the law. This exact question was asked by UPSC in 1998, word for word, and its published answer is also the Tenth Schedule — the answer text is the same, though it sits at a different letter there because the options are ordered differently.

• (a)Eighth Schedule — The Eighth Schedule is headed simply 'Languages' and lists the twenty-two languages recognised by the Constitution — the list that began with fourteen and has grown by amendment, most recently in 2003 when Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added. It has nothing to do with the conduct of legislators. It is the most-cited Schedule in general knowledge, which is why it heads the option list here.
• (c)Second Schedule — The Second Schedule fixes emoluments, allowances and privileges — Part A for the President and Governors, Part C for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of the People, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Council of States and their State counterparts, Part D for judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, Part E for the Comptroller and Auditor-General. Its subject is pay, not party discipline.
• (d)Fifth Schedule — The Fifth Schedule contains 'Provisions as to the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes' — the Governor's report, the Tribes Advisory Council, and the power to apply or modify laws in Scheduled Areas. The parallel Sixth Schedule covers tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Both concern territory and community, not defection.

The anti-defection law was a response to the 'Aya Ram Gaya Ram' politics of the late 1960s and 1970s, when legislators changed sides often enough to topple governments repeatedly, sometimes within days. The 52nd Amendment answered it by making defection a ground of disqualification from the House itself, and by placing the decision in the hands of the Chairman or the Speaker rather than the courts. Four categories of member are covered: a member elected on a party ticket, an independent who joins a party after election, a nominated member who joins a party more than six months after taking his seat, and the legislature party's members collectively for the purposes of merger. Two structural criticisms have followed the law ever since. First, because the whip binds a member on every vote and not only on confidence motions or money bills, it converts legislators into party ciphers and weakens Parliament's deliberative function. Second, the presiding officer who decides the question is usually a member of the ruling party, and the Supreme Court held in Kihoto Hollohan (1992) that his decision, though final under paragraph 6, is subject to judicial review — leaving open the problem of delay, since a Speaker who simply does not decide can let a defection stand for the life of a House.

There is no reasoning route to this answer; it is a numbered-schedule fact, and the only defence is to hold the twelve Schedules as a list. Learn them in pairs that are easy to confuse: the Fifth and Sixth both deal with tribal administration, the Fifth for Scheduled Areas generally and the Sixth for the four north-eastern States; the Eleventh and Twelfth both list devolvable subjects, twenty-nine for panchayats and eighteen for municipalities; the Second is emoluments and the Third is oaths. Then anchor the ones examiners love: Seventh for the three legislative Lists, Eighth for the twenty-two languages, Ninth for laws immune from certain challenges, Tenth for defection. Once the list is secure, the follow-up questions become answerable too — which amendment inserted the Schedule (the 52nd, 1985), which amendment removed the split exemption (the 91st, 2003), what fraction a merger needs (two-thirds), and how many days a party has to condone a defiant vote (fifteen).

• The Tenth Schedule is headed 'Provisions as to disqualification on ground of defection' and is attached to Articles 102(2) and 191(2); it was added by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985, with effect from 1 March 1985.
• Paragraph 2 disqualifies a member who voluntarily gives up his party membership, or who votes or abstains against a party direction without prior permission and whose conduct is not condoned within fifteen days.
• Paragraph 4 exempts a merger, which is deemed to occur 'if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger'.
• Paragraph 3, which had exempted a split by one-third of a legislature party, was omitted by the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003, with effect from 1 January 2004.
• The other Schedules on this option list: the Second fixes emoluments of the President, Governors, presiding officers, judges and the CAG; the Fifth governs the administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes; the Eighth lists the languages.

• Confusing the Eighth Schedule with the Tenth. Eighth is languages; Tenth is defection. Both are frequently asked and their numbers are easily swapped.
• Believing a one-third split still protects defectors. The split exemption was deleted by the 91st Amendment in 2003; only a two-thirds merger survives.
• Assuming the Speaker's decision under the Tenth Schedule is beyond challenge. Paragraph 6 calls it final, but the Supreme Court has held it open to judicial review.

BPSC asks the Schedule by number and offers three other Schedules beside it, so the item is pure list recall with no derivation available. UPSC asked this identical question in 1998 and has since moved on to the machinery — what counts as voluntarily giving up membership, what the 91st Amendment changed, and who decides a defection petition.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Tenth Schedule, a merger of a legislature party is deemed to have taken place only if it is agreed to by not less than

  • (a)One-third of the members of the legislature party
  • (b)One-half of the members of the legislature party
  • (c)Two-thirds of the members of the legislature party
  • (d)Three-fourths of the members of the legislature party

  Answer(c) Two-thirds of the members of the legislature party — paragraph 4(2). The one-third split exemption in paragraph 3 was deleted by the 91st Amendment Act, 2003.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India deals with

  • (a)Forms of oaths and affirmations
  • (b)Languages recognised by the Constitution
  • (c)Allocation of seats in the Council of States
  • (d)Validation of certain Acts and Regulations

  Answer(b) Languages recognised by the Constitution — currently twenty-two. Oaths are in the Third Schedule, Rajya Sabha seat allocation in the Fourth, and validation of certain Acts in the Ninth.