Rajya Sabha member and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal on Wednesday slammed defections by parliamentarians as an "immoral, illegal and unconstitutional" act while asserting that it is now on the courts to take a decision on the matter.
His remarks came amid indications that six to seven lawmakers of the Shiv Sena (UBT) are preparing to switch allegiance.
In a post on X, Sibal said, "Why Elections? If the party symbol sends you to Parliament how can you walk over, join another party with another symbol. You did not get elected on that symbol!"
No principle of constitutional law can permit this, the senior advocate said.
"Immoral, illegal, unconstitutional. Over to Court!" Sibal added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha members Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai, along with Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday, amid indications that six to seven lawmakers of the party are preparing to switch to the ruling Sena.
Following the meeting, Desai told reporters that they have submitted a representation to the Speaker urging him to guard against any unlawful defection.
"Under the law, one cannot simply merge with a party even if they have the support of two-thirds of the MPs. Only the original party can merge if a group has the required two-thirds strength," he said.
"The discretion lies with the Speaker. So if a group claiming to have two-thirds support approaches to merge with another party, that group cannot be recognised under the rules as only the original party can merge under the provisions. Even if there are six MPs, it does not matter," Desai added.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has nine MPs in Lok Sabha and at least six will have to jump ship together to escape disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Raut, who previously alleged that some Maharashtra MPs were being offered "Rs 50 crore" to switch sides, said Birla assured them that he would factor in every aspect of the law before taking any decision.
Apart from Sawant and Desai, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Rajabhau Waje has declared that he remains loyal to party supremo Uddhav Thackeray.
The other six MPs are being seen as potential defectors to the ruling Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde.
Also, on Sunday, 20 rebel TMC MPs met Birla and announced their merger with the NCPI, a Tripura-based registered unrecognised political party.
Rebel TMC MP Arup Chakraborty on Monday said the breakaway faction is trying to "rectify" the party and would fight for the control of its election symbol, even as the Mamata Banerjee-led faction termed the move illegal under the anti-defection law.
The NCPI is a Tripura-based registered unrecognised party that does not enjoy any significant political presence.
(With inputs from PTI)
