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With reference to anti-defection law in India, consider the following statements: 1. The law specifies that a nominated legislator cannot join any political party within six months of being appointed to the House. 2. The law does not provide any time-frame within which the presiding officer has to decide a defection case. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Explanation
The correct answer is Option 2.
Statement 1 is incorrect: According to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, a nominated member has the freedom to join a political party within six months of taking their seat. Disqualification occurs only if they join a party after the expiry of this six-month period. The statement incorrectly suggests they cannot join within the first six months.
Statement 2 is correct: The Anti-Defection Law does not prescribe a specific statutory time-limit for the Presiding Officer (Speaker/Chairman) to adjudicate on disqualification petitions. While the Supreme Court in the Keisham Meghachandra Singh case (2020) recommended that such cases should ideally be decided within three months, this remains a judicial guideline rather than a codified provision within the law itself.
Therefore, only the second statement accurately reflects the current legal framework of the Tenth Schedule.
PROVENANCE & STUDY PATTERN
Guest previewA classic 'Static disguised as Current' question. While defection is a hot news topic, the answer lies explicitly in standard texts (Laxmikanth Ch: Anti-Defection Law). It tests precise knowledge of 'exceptions' (nominated members) and 'lacunae' (no timeframe).
This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.
- Explicitly states the rule for nominated members with the six-month time limit.
- Directly ties disqualification to joining a political party within six months of nomination.
- Confirms that nominated representatives are covered by the anti-defection law.
- Supports that the law penalizes nominated members for changing party affiliation after election/nomination.
Explicitly states that a nominated member becomes disqualified if he/she joins any political party after the expiry of six months, and may join within six months without disqualification.
A student could combine this rule with the Tenth Schedule being the anti-defection law to infer the law's practical timing restriction for nominated members.
Lists the four grounds of disqualification under defection law, including that a nominated member joining a party after six months incurs disqualification.
Use this enumerated rule to test the statement by checking whether the six-month allowance implies no restriction within the first six months.
Duplicate statement of the disqualification grounds confirming that nominated members joining a party after expiry of six months are disqualified.
Treat as corroborating rule-based evidence to strengthen the inference about the six-month window for nominated legislators.
Identifies the Tenth Schedule as the anti-defection law that governs disqualification for defections.
Connect the procedural rule in snippets (1,2,6) to the constitutional source (Tenth Schedule) to judge whether the described six-month provision is part of that law.
Contains a test-question phrasing that explicitly cites the six-month claim about nominated legislators in the context of the anti-defection law.
Use this as an example of how the six-month clause is presented in study material and cross-check it against the Tenth Schedule or authoritative commentary.
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