Goa, July 13 -- CLEOFATO ALMEIDA COUTINHO

Goa has always been a pioneer in the shifting of political loyalties. The anti-defection law was chiselled in Goa in the late nineties. Ravi Naik v. Union of India and Dr Kashinath Zalmi v. State of Goa pro vided the necessary legal fodder for implementing or manipulating the anti-defec tion law. The Association for Democratic Reforms, in its report (2007-22), claimed that 60 per cent of MLAs in Goa switched sides, setting a unique record unparalleled in the history of democracy. From the split of the United Goans Party in 1967 over leadership issues into the Se queira and Furtado groups, we have come a long way to mass defections driven by greed for money and power, leading to treachery. The rem...