NEW DELHI: As many as 111 MPs and MLAs changed political parties after winning elections to Parliament and state assemblies between 2022 and 2026, with Nagaland and West Bengal recording the highest number of cases, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch.
The analysis covered elections and bypolls held during the period and found that 26 Lok Sabha MPs, seven Rajya Sabha members and 78 MLAs switched parties. The cases included individual defections, party mergers, resignations followed by bypoll victories and disqualifications followed by successful bypoll contests.
Nagaland recorded the highest number of cases at 32, all involving MLAs. Most were linked to a political realignment involving the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and the Naga People’s Front (NPF).
West Bengal recorded 20 cases, all involving Lok Sabha MPs. According to ADR, all 20 were elected on Trinamool Congress tickets before moving to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). The MPs have claimed a merger with the NCPI, which is pending before Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Telangana recorded nine cases, all involving MLAs elected from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), with the Congress emerging as the main recipient. Goa reported eight cases involving Congress MLAs who joined the BJP, while Punjab recorded eight cases comprising six Rajya Sabha members and two MLAs.
Maharashtra recorded six cases, all involving Lok Sabha MPs elected from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), who later joined the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde. Meghalaya reported six MLA cases, Manipur five, Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat four each, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan two each, and Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi one each.
At the party level, the NDPP recorded the highest number of exits at 25, followed by the Trinamool Congress with 20 and the Congress with 19. The BRS accounted for nine, AAP and NCP seven each, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) six, JD(U) five and NPP four.
On the receiving side, the NPF gained 32 lawmakers, followed by the BJP with 29 and the NCPI with 20. The Congress received nine lawmakers, Shiv Sena eight, NPP six and the People’s Party of Arunachal four.
ADR said defections have also been linked to the fall of governments in some states. It said the analysis may not be exhaustive because there is no systematically maintained official database tracking legislators who change political parties.
The watchdog has recommended changes to the anti-defection law, including shifting decisions on disqualification petitions from presiding officers to the President for MPs and Governors for MLAs based on the Election Commission’s advice. It has also proposed fixed timelines for deciding such petitions and restricting defectors from holding public office until they are re-elected.
