India, Sept. 25 -- Making an apparent mockery of the anti-defection law, 111 sitting MPs/MLAs changed parties after being elected to the current Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and State Assemblies. Among them, 26 were Lok Sabha MPs, seven were Rajya Sabha MPs, and 78 were MLAs.

The report of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report said defection cases were reported in 17 states and union territories. Nagaland topped the list, with 32 representatives switching parties. This was followed by West Bengal with 20, Telangana with nine, Goa and Punjab with eight each, Maharashtra and Meghalaya with six each, and Manipur with five.

Interestingly, Nagaland and West Bengal alone accounted for approximately 47 percent of the total defection cases....