Anti-Defection: Merger Loophole | UPSC GS-2 Polity

UPSCPDF Editorial Analysis: how the Tenth Schedule

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Engineered Splits Dressed as Mergers — Analysing the Anti-Defection Law, the Merger Exception, the Speaker's Role, Landmark Judgments & the Case for Reform Six of the nine Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs — exactly two-thirds of the party's strength in the House — have signed a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking a "merger" with the Eknath Shinde–led Shiv Sena, invoking the merger exception in the Tenth Schedule (the anti-defection law) to avoid disqualification. A formal announcement was expected around mid-June 2026. This follows a wider pattern. Around 20 of the Trinamool Congress's 28 Lok Sabha members, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, have sought recognition as a separate bloc — proposing to merge with a small registered party (the Nationalist Citizens Party) and support the NDA — while two TMC Rajya Sabha members resigned. Earlier, in late April 2026, seven of ten Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MPs, led by Raghav Chadha, merged with the BJP after the Chairman acce