This is with reference to the Editorial, “Aftershocks in Goa” (July 13). The defection of MLAs, whether induced or voluntary, is ugly. The legislators, having won the election as a member of one party, have no moral right to defect to another. Anti-defection laws are no longer acting as a deterrent. The hidden hand of the Bharatiya Janata Party to gain control of States where it has not been elected to power can be sensed. Democracy needs to be saved from such dishonest manoeuvres. The Supreme Court needs to intervene and force the defecting legislators to forfeit their membership, bar them for life from contesting elections and make them ineligible for pension.
R.M. Manoharan,
Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu
