Every year more than 80 MPs and MLAs are leaving the party, why is there a demand to make new laws on defection?

Defection is not a new thing in Indian politics, but in the last few years its pace has become faster than ever. Sometimes an MLA leaves the party to save the government, and sometimes the entire party gets divided into two parts. In states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar, party change has been a major reason behind the fall of governments and the formation of new governments. Now a new debate has started on this issue in Parliament also.

Congress MP Manish Tewari has given an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on the Anti-Defection Law, demanding a review and fresh discussion of this law. He says that the existing law no longer seems to be completely successful in preventing the disintegration of political parties and large-scale defection. In such a situation, the question is arising whether the country now needs a new and more strict law on defection?

10 years data

Statistics also strengthen this debate. Between 2014 and 2024, about 805 public representatives at the MP and MLA level changed parties across the country. That means on an average around 80 MPs and MLAs are leaving their party every year. Not only this, till now 96 MPs and MLAs have changed parties in 2026. Among these, a large number are those leaders who left their old party and joined other parties.

Which party’s extended clan?

According to the report, most of the leaders turned to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while parties like Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) suffered the most. In many cases this defection also became the reason for the fall of the government and formation of a new government. In such a situation, let us understand what is the law of defection, what was its impact in the last 10-15 years and who benefited the most.

1. Between 2014-2024, 805 MPs and MLAs changed parties.
2. Every year an average of 80 public representatives are leaving the party.
3. So far in 2026, 96 MPs-MLAs have changed parties.
4. Governments fell in many states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.
5. Congress MP Manish Tiwari has demanded a new debate on the anti-defection law.

What is Manish Tiwari’s demand?

Congress MP Manish Tiwari has given notice of Adjournment Motion in Lok Sabha on 20 July 2026. In this notice, he has demanded to adjourn the proceedings of the House and immediately discuss the increasing cases of political defections. Manish Tiwari has said that large-scale political defection in the country is weakening democratic values.

To deal with this problem, he expressed the need to enact a new and effective anti-defection law, which would prevent political defection motivated by opportunism and also maintain democratic space for honest and ideological dissent. Describing this issue as extremely important, he has urged the government to adjourn the proceedings of the House and hold a detailed discussion on it.

How many MPs and MLAs changed parties?

According to the report prepared on the basis of public policy and various political studies, between 2014 and 2024, 805 MPs and MLAs left their party and joined other parties. This number shows that defection in Indian politics is no longer an exception but has become a continuously growing political trend.

In many cases, leaders changed parties before the elections, while some changed their sides during the formation or fall of the government. According to the report, between 2009 and 2024, 1,123 MPs and MLAs changed parties in the country. Most defection took place in state assemblies, while its cases were relatively less in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

What is anti-defection law?

Anti-defection law in India was implemented in 1985 through the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. Its purpose was to prevent elected MPs and MLAs from changing parties for personal gain or political pressure. Under this law, if a public representative votes against his party’s whip or voluntarily leaves the party, his membership can be terminated. However, the final decision is taken by the Speaker or Chairman of the concerned House.

433 MPs and MLAs changed parties

According to the report of the Association for Democratic Reforms, between 2016 and 2020, 433 MPs and MLAs were found who contested elections again after changing parties. These included 405 MLAs and 28 MPs (12 Lok Sabha + 16 Rajya Sabha). Of the 405 MLAs who switched parties, 182 (about 45%) joined BJP, while maximum 170 MLAs left Congress and joined other parties. The report said that defection became an important reason behind the change of government in many states. In the last few years, party changes had a direct impact on the politics of many states.

In which states the government fell?

• Madhya Pradesh (2020): Kamal Nath government fell after the resignation of Jyotiraditya Scindia supporting MLAs.
• Maharashtra (2022): Uddhav Thackeray government left after major split in Shiv Sena.
• Karnataka (2019): The Congress-JDS coalition government fell after the resignations of the MLAs.
• Defection also affected the stability of governments in Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Bihar.

Party changed, wealth also increased

These incidents further strengthened the question whether existing laws are sufficient to prevent political instability. Not only this, according to the report, 433 MPs and MLAs who contested re-election across the country since 2016 were analyzed. While contesting the last election, the average assets of these leaders were Rs 14.95 crore, which increased to Rs 20.80 crore by the current election. That means an increase of Rs 5.85 crore (about 39%) was recorded in his average wealth.

Who benefited the most?

According to the report, about 300 leaders joined BJP in the last decade, which is the highest compared to any other party. At the same time, a large number of leaders left from parties like Congress, BSP, Shiv Sena, NCP and Trinamool Congress. However, political analysts say that circumstances have been different in different states and the reason for every defection was not the same. Somewhere ideological differences, somewhere dissatisfaction with the leadership and somewhere power politics have been the main reasons.