Despite the stringent anti-defection laws, cross-voting or floor crossing is going on. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu recently commented that the anti-defection law must be amended to rectify the loopholes.
Defectors contend that anti-defection laws stifle their right to free speech, glossing over the fact that they are not individuals with a free will but representatives of an electorate that voted for them on the basis of certain assurances including that of party affiliation. Seen in this perspective, defection is an act of betrayal of the people’s trust
