Manish Tewari introduces bill in Lok Sabha to free MPs from ‘whip tyranny’, promote ‘good law-making’

Congress MP Manish Tewari has introduced a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha to allow parliamentarians an independent vote on bills and motions other than those affecting the stability of the government, saving them from “whip-driven tyranny” and promoting “good law-making”.

Introducing the bill to amend the Prevention of Smuggling Act last Friday (December 5, 2025), Mr Tewari said the proposed law aims to mark who has primacy in democracy – the voter who stands for hours in the sun to elect his representative or the political party whose whip the representative becomes.

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The bill, introduced by Mr Tewari in the Lok Sabha for the third time after 2010 and 2021, aims to give parliamentarians the freedom to act on independent lines while voting on bills and motions other than confidence motions, no-confidence motions, adjournment motions, currency bills and financial matters that may affect the stability of a government.

“This bill seeks to restore conscience, constituency, and common sense to the ranks of the legislature so that an elected representative can function as a representative of the people who actually elected him, rather than as an instrument of the whip thrown by his party, turning legislators into dogmatic ciphers who answer only to lobotomized numbers and the bell of division.” PTI.

The bill’s statement of objects and reasons states that it is proposed to amend the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution to provide for the following: “A member loses his membership only if he votes or abstains from voting in the House on a motion of no confidence, a motion of no confidence, a motion to adjourn, a money bill or on financial matters, contrary to any direction made in that behalf by the party of which he is a member, and in no other case.”

The bill’s statement of purposes and reasons states: “A Speaker or Speaker of the House shall make a statement in the House in respect of any direction given by a political party in respect of such motion, bill or financial matters, as soon as practicable after such direction has been communicated to him by that political party.” It was said.

“The Speaker of the House or the Speaker, while making such an announcement, shall also specifically inform the members that failure of any member to comply with the instructions given by a political party will result in automatic termination of his membership; the member has the right to appeal against the termination of his membership to the Speaker or the Speaker, as the case may be, within fifteen days from the date of suspension and the objection shall be disposed of within sixty days from the date of receipt of such notification by the Speaker or the Speaker,” the Speaker said.

Speaking about the bill, Mr. Tewari said the bill aims to achieve dual objectives: the stability of the government is not affected and parliamentarians and legislators exercise legislative choice.

“What happens is that when Parliament meets for government business at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, sometimes there is not even a quorum in the House. And in fact, there is an unspoken agreement between the treasury benches and the opposition not to raise the issue of quorum so that the functioning of the House can continue if it is not disrupted,” said the Congress MP from Chandigarh.

He said that the reason for this is that MPs do not see a role for themselves in making laws, which is one of their primary duties.

“So legislation is made by the joint secretary of some ministry. It is brought to Parliament, a Minister will read a prepared statement explaining what it is. Then it is put into a pro forma debate and, as a result of whiplash tyranny, those on the Treasury benches always vote for the legislation and those on the opposition benches vote against it.

“The process of making laws so good that members of Parliament spent time examining best practices around the world, researching legal precedents and then contributing to proceedings is now history,” Mr. Tewari said.

Asked whether the bill aims to eliminate the tyranny of the whip and promote good law-making, Mr Tewari said “absolutely”.

“It is important to contextualise the bill. From 1950 to 1985, members of Parliament and members of state legislatures were subjected to whips by the respective political parties, but the whips did not produce any coercive results,” he said.

“In 1967, the ugly specter of Aaya Ram Gaya Ram began when legislators took to the floor with impunity, with one legislator in Haryana taking to the floor eight times in a day. The specter of secession became the scourge of Indian democracy. Then, almost 18 years later, then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi introduced the anti-defection law as the 10th Schedule of the Indian Constitution,” he said.

“Thirty years have passed, and the anti-escape law, no matter how well-intentioned, has failed to prevent the danger of escape. If escapes were a retail activity in the 1960s, it became a wholesale activity in the 1990s with the enactment of the anti-escape law, and then in the 2000s, especially after 2014, it became a mega-mall activity where entire lots were bought and sold wholesale, locks, stocks and barrels.” Mr. Tewari said.

He argued that the kind of “whip-driven” tyranny that the 10th program inadvertently introduced did not exist in any other democracy in the world.

Noting that Parliament from time to time acts as a jury or decides to take action against one of its own members, Mr. Tewari asked how this could be subjected to a whiplash process.

A quarter of a century after the 10th Schedule came into force, some adaptations and further strengthening are needed to make it more relevant to our democratic process today, the bill’s statement of aims and reasons said.

Members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are allowed to introduce bills on issues on which they think the government should legislate. Except for a few cases, most private members’ bills were withdrawn after the government responded to the proposed legislation.

It was published – 08 December 2025 07:34 IST