Make anti-defection law stricter, says Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said there was a need to make the anti-defection law stricter as people switching parties closer to polls for selfish gains impacts the democracy in a negative way.

Mayawati was making an apparent reference to a series of defections from both the BJP and the BSP to the SP in recent months, with seven BJP MLAs joining the SP on Friday. One of the MLAs, also a minister- Swami Prasad Maurya- a popular backward leader had been associated with the BSP for the best part of his career before he joined the BJP in 2016. He is now with the SP.

On Maurya's comment that the BSP faded into oblivion after he left the party, Maywati said Maurya had no stature as a leader before joining the BSP and it is only after joining the BSP that his "luck shone".


The BSP also released its first list of 53 candidates. The first phase of elections to 58 constituencies will take place on February 10. Thirteen out of the 53 candidates are Muslims. In Dadri, the home constituency of Mayawati, the BSP has fielded a Gurjar- Manveer Singh Bhati - who is a popular farmer leader.