{"id":365579,"date":"2026-06-19T17:10:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=365579"},"modified":"2026-06-19T17:10:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:40:50","slug":"tenth-schedule-and-party-mergers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/tenth-schedule-and-party-mergers\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenth Schedule and Party Mergers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News: <\/strong>Twenty rebel TMC MPs claimed merger with NCPI and sought protection under the Tenth Schedule\u2019s merger exception.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\"><strong>About Tenth Schedule and Party Mergers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_365584\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-365584\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-365584\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Source-LawBeats.jpg?resize=300%2C168&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Tenth Schedule and Party Mergers\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Source-LawBeats.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Source-LawBeats.jpg?w=757&amp;ssl=1 757w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-365584\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; LawBeats<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Tenth Schedule<\/strong> was inserted by the <strong>52nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1985<\/strong> to <strong>prevent political defections and ensure stability<\/strong> in the parliamentary system.\n<ul>\n<li>It provides for <strong>disqualification of legislators who voluntarily give up party membership or defy the party whip.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Merger Exception under the Tenth Schedule: Paragraph 4 of <\/strong>the Tenth Schedule contains <strong>the merger provision.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It <strong>allows legislators to retain their membership<\/strong> of the House when a <strong>valid party merger takes place.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conditions for Protection under the Merger Clause:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Two-Thirds Support Requirement:<\/strong> Protection is available <strong>only when not less than two-thirds of the members<\/strong> of the legislature party agree to the merger.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Original Political Party and Legislature Party:<\/strong> The Tenth Schedule distinguishes between the <strong>original political party, which sponsors candidates for elections,<\/strong> and the <strong>legislature party, which consists of its members in a House.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This <strong>distinction is important<\/strong> because disputes over<strong> mergers often involve the relationship between these two entities.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Protection to Both Groups:<\/strong> Members who accept the merger and those who refuse it but function as a separate group are protected from disqualification.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Only Available Exception:<\/strong> The 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 <strong>removed the earlier split provision<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>As a result, <strong>merger under Paragraph 4 remains the only exception to disqualification under the Tenth Schedule.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Interpretational Debate<\/strong>: A key <strong>issue is whether support from at least two-thirds of the legislature party is sufficient to claim the merger exception,<\/strong> or whether the original political party must also formally merge with another political party.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Amendments :<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>52nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1985:<\/strong> Inserted the Tenth Schedule into the Constitution.<\/li>\n<li><strong>91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003:<\/strong> <strong>Deleted the Paragraph 3 split provision<\/strong> and retained only the merger provision under Paragraph 4.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Important Judicial Pronouncements:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kihoto Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992):<\/strong> The Supreme Court <strong>upheld the constitutional validity of the Tenth Schedule<\/strong> and held that the <strong>Speaker&#8217;s decision is subject to judicial review<\/strong> on limited grounds.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ravi S. Naik v. Union of India (1994):<\/strong> The Supreme Court held that a <strong>member may be considered to have voluntarily given up party<\/strong> <strong>membership<\/strong> even <strong>without a formal resignation<\/strong> if such intention is evident from the member&#8217;s conduct.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Subhash Desai Case (2023):<\/strong> The Supreme Court held that the <strong>political party and the legislature party are distinct entities<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>The Court also held that the <strong>power to appoint the whip and leader belongs to the political party<\/strong> and not merely to the faction that commands a majority in the House.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Deciding Authority:<\/strong> The <strong>Speaker or Chairman of the concerned House decides<\/strong> whether a legislator should be <strong>disqualified under the Tenth Schedule<\/strong> and <strong>whether a claimed merger qualifies for protection from disqualification.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Judicial Review:<\/strong> The Speaker&#8217;s decision can be reviewed by courts on limited grounds such <strong>as mala fide action, violation of natural justice, procedural irregularity, or error of law.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Courts generally do not intervene<\/strong> before the Speaker has given a decision.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Twenty rebel TMC MPs claimed merger with NCPI and sought protection under the Tenth Schedule\u2019s merger exception. About Tenth Schedule and Party Mergers The Tenth Schedule was inserted by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1985 to prevent political defections and ensure stability in the parliamentary system. It provides for disqualification of legislators who voluntarily&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/tenth-schedule-and-party-mergers\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Tenth Schedule and Party Mergers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1760,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-365579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-polity-and-nation","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}