Anti-defection

The Tenth Schedule, inserted by the Fifty-second Amendment in 1985, disqualifies a legislator who voluntarily gives up party membership or votes against a party whip. The 2003 amendment removed the exemption for splits, leaving merger by two-thirds as the only route out.

It belongs in the reform story because it is the one party-constraining reform Parliament did pass, and because its weak point is the same as everywhere else in this area: the decision rests with the Speaker, an officer who holds the post on the strength of a party majority, and no deadline binds them.