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New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS) As Bihar prepares for the upcoming assembly elections to be held on November 6 and 11, there are reports of political leaders changing their allegiance, possibly in search of a comparatively comfortable victory or elevation in the party hierarchy.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA Bharat Bind, who was reported to be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this year, recently resigned from the state assembly.
In 2020, Bind defeated her nearest rival Rinki Rani Pandey of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Bhabhua assembly constituency in Bihar by over 10,000 votes.
In the 2015 assembly elections, contesting from the same seat but on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket, Bind finished third behind the BJP and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) candidates.
Incidentally, in 2015, JD-U was not in alliance with BJP.
Similarly, Congress MLA Murari Prasad Gautam, who defeated JD-U’s Lalan Paswan by 18,000 votes in the Chenari assembly seat in the 2020 state elections, has also resigned.
Incidentally, Paswan won the seat in 2015, but then as a Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) candidate.
Former Union Minister Nagmani Kushwaha has changed or launched about a dozen parties in the last 23 years.
The septuagenarian Dalit leader is followed by another former Union Minister, the ageless young Upendra Kushwaha, who has moved from one organization to another about half a dozen times.
Samrat Chaudhary, who is currently the Deputy Chief Minister in Bihar, has also been a leader of major political parties in the state before joining the BJP.
Though JD-U supremo and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has earned the sobriquet of “Paltu Ram” or the flip-flop man, it is due to changing alliance partners.
Such was the case for the late Ram Vilas Paswan, who was known as a political meteorologist who would sense the mandate even before the election results were declared and align with the winning side.
Former Chief Minister of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi has also been changing alliances for the last 10 years.
Attending a party is not a recent phenomenon.
In 1967â68, for about a year, many such mistakes were made by legislators in many states.
Thus, in 1969, the YB Chavan Committee was asked to address the issue of defection.
Between the first and fourth general elections (1951â1967), about 540 cases of defection were reported.
This trend was and continues to be found among independent candidates as well, especially in situations of hung verdicts.
It has been observed that, in what is called “horse trading”, the lure of material gain and position plays a major role in such decisions of defection.
The Constitution (Thirty-second Amendment) Bill, 1973, to provide for constitutional disqualification on defection, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 16 May 1973.
It was referred to a Joint Committee of the Houses of Parliament which became inactive with the dissolution of the Fifth Lok Sabha in 1977.
In another attempt to prevent defection, the Constitution (Forty-eighth Amendment) Bill, 1979, introduced in the Lok Sabha, was withdrawn following protests by members of both the ruling and opposition parties.
After the 1984 general elections, a further step was taken through the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha and an anti-defection law was introduced in January 1985 to prevent such party-hopping.
However, keeping in mind the right of an individual to do so in a democratic system, the option of joining a political party cannot be completely banned.
“Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram (He comes, he goes)” is often used to reflect the journey of party-hoppers.
In Haryana, Bhajan Lal was once called the “master of horse-trading” because of his inherent power to persuade and form alliances across party lines.
Some MLAs of the state like Heera Nand Arya and Gaya Lal are still remembered for their political acrobatics.
However, such political travelers are not limited to Indian politics only.
There are many such examples from other countries like Britain and Australia.
–IANS
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