What is a whip in a state Assembly or Parliament?

“You are bound by the whip. You are bound to vote with your party so long as you are in the legislature, unless there is a merger,” the CJI told Senior Advocate N K Kaul, who is appearing for the Eknath Shinde faction.

On Monday, Chief Minister Shinde had written to the Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe, who is a member of the Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction, to inform her that the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) had decided to appoint MLC Viplove Bajoria as its chief whip in the Vidhan Parishad.

Bajoria became the first member of the Legislative Council to officially switch from the Uddhav faction to the Shinde faction this week. The Shinde faction, which has been recognised by the Election Commission as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena and allotted the party’s well-known bow-and-arrow election symbol, currently has fewer MLCs than the Uddhav faction.

What is a ‘whip’ in the House?

In parliamentary parlance, a whip may refer to both a written order to members of a party in the House to abide by a certain direction, and to a designated official of the party who is authorised to issue such a direction. The term is derived from the old British practice of “whipping in” lawmakers to follow the party line.

A whip may require that party members be present in the House for an important vote, or that they vote only in a particular way. In India, all parties can issue whips to their members. Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips — this member is called a chief whip, and he/ she is assisted by additional whips.

How serious are whips issued by parties?

Whips can be of varying degrees of seriousness. The importance of a whip can be inferred from the number of times an order is underlined.

A one-line whip, underlined once, is usually issued to inform party members of a vote, and allows them to abstain in case they decide not to follow the party line.

A two-line whip directs them to be present during the vote.

A three-line whip is the strongest, employed on important occasions such as the second reading of a Bill or a no-confidence motion, and places an obligation on members to toe the party line.

What can happen if a whip is defied?

The penalty for defying a whip varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, an MP can lose membership of the party for defying the whip, but can keep her/ his House seat as an Independent.

In the US, as per a note published by PRS Legislative Research, “the party whip’s role is to gauge how many legislators are in support of a Bill and how many are opposed to it — and to the extent possible, persuade them to vote according to the party line on the issue”.

In India, rebelling against a three-line whip can put a lawmaker’s membership of the House at risk. The anti-defection law allows the Speaker/ Chairperson to disqualify such a member; the only exception is when more than a third of legislators vote against a directive, effectively splitting the party.

“Once a government is formed, it is not open to any group of MLAs to say that we don’t want to go with this alliance. It is not open to any one segment of a political party to say we don’t want to go with this alliance. That will ipso facto attract the disqualification provisions. You are bound by the whip. You are bound to vote with your party so long as you are in the legislature, unless there is a merger,” CJI Chandrachud said on Tuesday.

What has the Shinde faction argued?

Senior Advocate Kaul argued on behalf of the Shinde faction that there were “two political whips appointed on the same day. We are following the mandate of the party. The question is whether my political whip or their political whip is the actual whip.

“The faction, which has been now recognised officially, had the majority in the political party then. They can’t presume and say that we have incurred an ex-facie disqualification. There is an overwhelming discontent in the cadre of the party and didn’t want to continue with the alliance,” he said.

The hearing is ongoing.