The politics of splits, defections

The politics of splits, defections

The only way to deter defections is for the electorate to punish defectors when they seek re-election

A spate of splits, mergers, defections and resignations has been seen among the TMC, AAP, and Shiv Sena (UBT) recently. Significantly, all these parties are BJP's rivals. While such things have happened earlier, the sheer scale at which they have occurred in the past decade is unprecedented. The Rajya Sabha elections held in recent years have witnessed large-scale cross-voting in favour of the party in power at the Centre.