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Cabinet okays steps to curb bulk defections

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI April 23. In a politically-important decision, the Union Cabinet today decided to put a limit to the size of both Union and State Councils of Ministers and to put down the problem of political defections more firmly by removing the present provision under which `bulk defections' were possible in the form of splits by one-third members.

The Cabinet, which met here this evening, also decided to change the basis for delimiting Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies from the 1991 census to the 2001 census to ensure more representation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

As regards the decision on the size of the Council of Ministers, the total strength would be restricted to 10 per cent of the total strength of the legislature, irrespective of whether it was unicameral or bicameral in respect of States, and 10 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha in the case of Parliament.

In the case of smaller States such as Goa, Sikkim and Mizoram, which had 40, 40 and 32 seats respectively, there would be some relaxation in the rule. There would be a proviso that they could have up to seven Ministers.

As regards amendments to the Anti-Defection Act, the decision is to delete Part 3 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, under which exemption from disqualification was granted in case of splits in the parties.

Announcing the Cabinet's decisions, the Union Minister and Cabinet spokesperson, Sushma Swaraj, said the restriction in Cabinet size and the changes to the Anti-Defection Act would meet a long-felt demand of all political parties. A Constitution Amendment Bill to incorporate the changes would be brought in the current session of Parliament itself, she added. Once the amendments are in place, members of political parties would have to resign their seats from the legislature or Parliament and seek re-elections on a new symbol if they defied the whip of the parent party.

Delimitation of constituencies

As regards the decision on changing the basis for the delimitation exercise, Ms. Swaraj said a major advantage would be a substantial increase in the number of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. If the 1991 census had been the basis, the increase would have been eight seats across the country compared to the present set-up.

With the 2001 census becoming the basis, the increase would be almost double, at 15 seats.

The change, she said, had the approval of all political parties. The idea, she said, had also been approved by the Delimination Commission.

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