WHIP IN THE LEGISLATURE
1. Context
Members of a House are bound by the ‘whip’, and if any section of MLAs within a political party that is part of a ruling coalition says it does not want to go with the alliance, the MLAs will attract disqualification
A five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud is hearing petitions filed in the wake of last year’s political crisis in Maharashtra precipitated by a division in the Shiv Sena
2.What is 'Whip' in the House
- In parliamentary parlance, a whip may refer to both a written order to members of a party in the House to abide by a certain direction, and to a designated official of the party who is authorised to issue such a direction
- The term is derived from the old British practice of “whipping in” lawmakers to follow the party line
- A whip may require that party members be present in the House for an important vote, or that they vote only in a particular way
- In India, all parties can issue whips to their members
- Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips this member is called a chief whip, and he/ she is assisted by additional whips
3.Seriousness of Whip issued by Parties
- Whips can be of varying degrees of seriousness. The importance of a whip can be inferred from the number of times an order is underlined
- A one-line whip, underlined once, is usually issued to inform party members of a vote, and allows them to abstain in case they decide not to follow the party line
- A two-line whip directs them to be present during the vote.
- A three-line whip is the strongest, employed on important occasions such as the second reading of a Bill or a no-confidence motion, and places an obligation on members to toe the party line
- The penalty for defying a whip varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, an MP can lose membership of the party for defying the whip, but can keep her/ his House seat as an Independent
- In the US, as per a note published by PRS Legislative Research, “the party whip’s role is to gauge how many legislators are in support of a Bill and how many are opposed to it and to the extent possible, persuade them to vote according to the party line on the issue”
- In India, rebelling against a three-line whip can put a lawmaker’s membership of the House at risk.
- The anti-defection law allows the Speaker/ Chairperson to disqualify such a member; the only exception is when more than a third of legislators vote against a directive, effectively splitting the party
Source:indianexpress
