Punjab, Oct. 9 -- Two Tamil Nadu byelections were counted on Friday. Both were caused by MLAs who were elected on an AIADMK ticket, voted for a TVK government against their party whip, and then resigned before they could be disqualified for it - only to stand again, for the party they had defected to, in the seats they had just vacated. That sequence is legal. It should not be.
What the Tenth Schedule was for
India's anti-defection law exists because of a simple observation from the 1960s and 1970s: if a legislator can switch sides without cost, governments will be bought rather than elected. The Tenth Schedule's answer was to make the cost automatic. Vote against your party's whip and you lose your seat.
The design has one assumption bu...