What does the Tenth Plan provide about party mergers?

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As many as 20 rebel MPs from the Trinamool Congress met the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and announced their decision to merge with the Nationalist Civic Party of India (NCPI). This raised problems with the interpretation of the Tenth Plan with regard to the merger of political parties.

What is the origin of Tenth Plan?

The defection of legislators from their parent parties during the 1960s and 1970s created political instability in many states and overthrew elected governments. This led to the 52nd Constitutional Amendment introducing the ‘Anti-defection’ Act through the Tenth Schedule in 1985. This schedule provides that a member of a House of Parliament or a State Legislature who voluntarily renounces membership of his ‘political party’ or votes against the instructions of his party in the House is liable for expulsion from such House. A “political party” is the entire organization of a party, while a “legislative party” is all members of a political party in the House of Representatives or the legislature of a state.

The Tenth Schedule originally had two exceptions that would not make members liable for disqualification, i.e. splitting one-third of the members of a “legislative party” into a separate group (paragraph 3), or merging their “political party” with another party approved by two-thirds of the members of its “legislative party” (paragraph 4). However, in view of the need to strengthen the “anti-browsing” law, paragraph 3 was deleted in 2003.

After paragraph 3 was deleted, there were cases where two-thirds of the members of the legislature “virtually” defected but claimed to be the original political party to escape disqualification. This happened in the case of Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party in June 2022 and July 2023 respectively.

There have also been cases where more than two-thirds of the members of the “legislative party” in the house have joined with another political party to escape disqualification. This happened in September 2019 (in Rajasthan) when all 6 party Bahujan Samajwadi Party MLAs joined hands with Congress and in September 2022 (in Goa) when 8 out of 11 Congress MLAs joined hands with BJP. The Bombay High Court has upheld the merger of the Goa Congress Legislature Party with the BJP, even as an appeal is pending in the apex court. A similar move took place in April 2026 when 7 out of 10 AAP Rajya Sabha MPs joined hands with the BJP.

What is the current case in Bengal?

After the recent polls in West Bengal, about 60 of the 80 MLAs elected from the Trinamool Congress formed a separate faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee, who was recognized as the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly even after the party expelled him. Meanwhile, 20 out of 28 Lok Sabha MPs submitted their decision to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to join hands with the NCPI. They claim that they constitute two-thirds of the legislative party and are therefore entitled to take this step under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule without being disqualified.

What can be next?

A plain reading of the Tenth Schedule allows only the merger of a political party with another party approved by two-thirds of its legislature. It does not authorize two-thirds of the legislative party in one house to merge with another political party and claim immunity from defection. However, in a recent case with regard to the proposed merger of Trinamool Lok Sabha MPs with NCPI and also the merger of Rajya Sabha MPs from AAP with BJP, this has happened. It is also subject to interpretation whether the merger of the “original political party” can only take place with another political party that already has members in the legislature. In addition, the chairman or chairman has the power to decide on the disqualification of members. Although they are expected to exercise this constitutional role impartially, presiding officers have often favored the ruling exception. The Supreme Court in the KM Singh case in 2020 recommended Parliament to amend the constitution and vest these powers in an independent court headed by judges.

The Supreme Court’s authoritative judgment on merger matters and the establishment of an independent tribunal to decide on disqualification may reduce the confusion surrounding the Tenth Schedule. However, this must not come in the way of ingenious methods adopted by political parties to circumvent the Tenth Schedule. Any such maneuvers may be seen by elected representatives as voter betrayal. A more stringent measure, as recommended by the Law Commission in 1999, could be to amend the Tenth Schedule and repeal Section 4, which provides an exemption from disqualification for amalgamation of political parties. Any action by the elected members of the legislature against their political party should lead to disqualification which will result in seeking a new mandate from the people.

Rangarajan R. is a retired IAS officer and author of ‘Courseware on Polity Simplified’. He is currently training at the ‘Officers IAS Academy’. Opinions expressed are personal.

Published – 17 Jun 2026 08:30 IST