Our Correspondent
Kohima | February 26
The Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) today adopted revised anti-defection rules in the form of repeals after the ruling People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) and opposition Naga People's Front (NPF) came to an agreement that there were several discrepancies in the existing rules.
Speaker Vikho-o Yhoshü's remark on the current Members of the NLA (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 2003 stated that the current rules which came into effect from March 2006 were not in conformity with the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India, thereby hampering administration of justice under the said Schedule. The current rules, he stated, were entirely different from the anti-defection rules of both Houses of Parliament and Houses of other state/UT legislatures, causing serious hardship to legal fraternity in understanding the rules of NLA and interpreting the same before the speaker and constitutional courts.
The new rule also seeks to regulate matters relating to office of leader of legislature party as the existing rule appears to be in the nature of excessive legislation.
"In view of the above, I have decided to restore the anti-defection Rules of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly that held the field before 18.03.2006. This would ensure that all inconsistency in the Rules are removed and thereby entail smooth administration of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India," the Speaker's statement read.
After the NLA commissioner and secretary tabled the revised rule, Leader of opposition TR Zeliang, while endorsing the idea of repealing the discrepancies, shared his observation that the draft rule should be referred to the Assembly rules committee for examination and submitted to the Speaker's office. However, Leader of the House Neiphiu Rio clarified that the matter was the prerogative of the Speaker and did not qualify to be sent to the Assembly committee.
Deputy Speaker announced that any requirement of change in the new rules could be taken up in the next session, following which, the new anti-defection rules were adopted by voice vote.
