Supreme Court seeks Centre’s reply on Kapil Sibal’s plea over anti-defection law

3 min readUpdated: Jul 27, 2026 07:46 PM IST Sibal, who is an independent Rajya Sabha member, submitted before the bench that the matter has consequences for polity as electoral majority can be turned into minority by resorting to mergers. (Express Photo)The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Centre’s response to a plea filed by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal questioning the interpretation of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution that allows lawmakers to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law by claiming a merger with another political party. Issuing notice to the Centre, a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe, however, observed if it is not an issue for the Parliament to deal with.The plea contends that the current interpretation gives splinter groups room to avoid t