Legislature party
Topic: Political Parties, Party Systems and Anti-defection · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A legislature party is all the members of one political party who sit in a particular House, such as the Lok Sabha or a state assembly. Under the Tenth Schedule, it is different from the party organisation outside the House. The merger exception (paragraph 4) depends on it: members are not disqualified if at least two-thirds of the legislature party agree to merge with another party.
Example
In Subhash Desai (2023), the Supreme Court dealt with the Shiv Sena split. It held that the political party, not the legislature party, appoints the whip. So a group of MLAs cannot simply choose its own whip.
Don't confuse with
- Political party (party organisation): the whole party, including its leaders, members and constitution. Under the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling, it is this organisation that appoints the whip.
Related concepts
- Defection
- 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act 1985
- Anti-defection law
- Party whip
- Independent and nominated members under anti-defection law
- Ravi S. Naik case
- Presiding officer's exemption