<span style="color: #222222;">Bombay High Court today sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkatramani in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the protection from disqualification granted under anti-defection law to MPs/ MLAs in case of merger of their political party with another political party. A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor sought the response of the Central government to the petition challenging paragraph 4 of the tenth schedule of the Constitution within four weeks and kept the matter for further hearing after six weeks.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The PIL filed by Meenakshi Menon, founder trustee of NGO Vanashakti, argues that Paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution allows legislators to defect and breach their social contracts with the voters, who vote based on manifestos of political parties. Additionally, the petition seeks a direction that legislators defecting from their original parties should be barred from participating in house proceedings or holding constitutional posts until their disqualification is conclusively decided.<br />''</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The PIL refers to the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis as an example of the consequences of group defections, asserting that such actions have become ingrained in political culture, eroding voter trust in political ideologies.</span><br />