The anti-defection law is contained in which Schedule of the Constitution of India?

The correct answer is B, the Fifty-second Amendment, 1985. That amendment inserted the Tenth Schedule and amended Articles 101, 102, 190 and 191, which deal with the vacation of seats and the disqualification of members. It came into force on 1 March 1985.

Option A, the Forty-fourth Amendment, 1978, undid much of the Forty-second Amendment: it restored the term of the Lok Sabha to five years, deleted the right to property from the fundamental rights and tightened the conditions for a proclamation of Emergency. Option C, the Sixty-first Amendment, 1989, lowered the voting age from twenty-one years to eighteen years. Option D, the Ninety-first Amendment, 2003, did not add the Schedule; it amended it, deleting the exemption for a split and capping the size of the Council of Ministers, so it is the common distractor in this question.

The correct answer is C, two-thirds. Paragraph 4 says that where the original political party of a member merges with another party, the member is not disqualified if not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to the merger. Both the members who go over and the members who refuse to go and stay with the old party are protected.

Option A, one-third, was the figure in Paragraph 3 for a split, and that paragraph was deleted by the Ninety-first Amendment in 2003, which is why one-third now protects nobody. Option B, one-half, and option D, three-fourths, appear nowhere in the Tenth Schedule; three-fourths is the figure used in Article 368 for ratification by states only in the sense of a special majority of the House, not for mergers. Examiners pair one-third and two-thirds deliberately, so the two figures must be remembered together with their paragraphs.

The correct answer is D, the Ninety-first Amendment, passed in 2003. It omitted Paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule, which had saved a split supported by one-third of the members of a legislature party. Bulk defections were being presented as splits to claim that protection, so only a merger approved by two-thirds survives today.

Option A, the Sixty-first Amendment, 1989, reduced the voting age to eighteen years. Option B, the Seventy-third Amendment, 1992, gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj and added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule. Option C, the Eighty-sixth Amendment, 2002, inserted Article 21A, making free and compulsory education for children of six to fourteen years a fundamental right, and added the fundamental duty in Article 51A(k). The Ninety-first Amendment is also remembered for capping the Council of Ministers at fifteen per cent of the House and for inserting Article 361B.

The correct answer is C, the Chairman or the Speaker of the House concerned. Paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule gives that power to the presiding officer, and where the question is about the presiding officer, it is decided by a member of the House elected for the purpose.

Option A, the President, decides disqualification under Articles 102 and 103 for grounds such as holding an office of profit, and there the President must act on the opinion of the Election Commission. Option B, the Election Commission, has no role at all in a Tenth Schedule case, which is a favourite trap in this question. Option D, the Supreme Court, does not decide the question at first instance, but after Kihoto Hollohan versus Zachillhu, 1992, struck down Paragraph 7, the courts may review the presiding officer's order on grounds such as mala fides, perversity or violation of natural justice.

The correct answer is D, Paragraph 7. That paragraph barred the jurisdiction of all courts in respect of any matter connected with the disqualification of a member under the Schedule. The Supreme Court held that taking away the jurisdiction of the High Courts under Article 226 and of the Supreme Court under Article 136 changed the position of those courts, so the amendment needed ratification by the legislatures of half the states under Article 368(2), which had not been obtained. Paragraph 7 therefore fell, while the rest of the Schedule was upheld.

Option A, Paragraph 2, lays down the grounds of defection and remains in force. Option B, Paragraph 4, carries the merger exemption and also stands. Option C, Paragraph 6, which makes the presiding officer the deciding authority, was upheld, with the Court holding that the officer acts as a tribunal whose order is open to judicial review once it is made.