Defection cases should be disposed of within a timeframe: Vice President

Amaravati: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Wednesday expressed concern over the the manner in which the Judiciary and Speakers of Legislatures were dealing with cases of political defections and said it needed to be disposed of within a "specific time frame."

Naidu, who is Rajya Sabha Chairman, also advocated the need for an amendment to the Anti-Defection Law, setting a specific time frame for disposing of defection cases.

The vice-president also observed that parties were making "strange" promises ahead of elections without realising whether or not they could be implemented.

He suggested that political parties first analyse the states financial situation, its debts, income accrual from taxes and also the amount of funds required to fulfil (poll-eve) promises.

"All free" promises being made by political parties were not good for democracy, he said.

"Parties, ahead of the elections, have been making promises at will that they would give this or that, waive this, give these many lakhs.

"Post-election, they claim they did not promise to waive everything in one go and that they would do it in a phased manner", he observed, in an apparent reference to the Telugu Desam Party that promised waiver of farm loans in Andhra Pradesh but reportedly could not complete it even after four years in power.

Referring to criminal and election-related cases against the peoples representatives, he said tribunals and special courts should be set up to deal with it and dispose of all such cases within a year.

"Priority should be given to cases in which certain persons are facing allegations because they are going to be our leaders. They should be disposed of within one year," the Vice President added.