Hyderabad, June 25 -- In a democratic system, elections are premised on the idea that voters elect representatives who remain honest and accountable to the public, upholding the very mandate upon which they were chosen. However, in contemporary India, the strategic defection of political parties, their mergers and the tendency to forge alliances based purely on convenience amount to nothing less than a betrayal of the democratic electoral system and the voters' trust.

The recent problems in West Bengal have shown us this. The problems that started after the West Bengal Assembly election results completely destroyed the trust in politics. However, this is not the first time that something like this has happened. Twenty out of the 28 membe...