Congress MP Manish Tewari brings bill in Lok Sabha seeking to let MPs take their own voting line

Congress MP Manish Tewari has introduced a private member’s bill in Lok Sabha that seeks to allow parliamentarians to take an independent line in voting on bills and motions other than those affecting the government's stability in a bid to free them from "whip-driven tyranny" and promote "good lawmaking".

Mr. Tewari, who introduced the bill on last Friday (December 5, 2025) to amend the Anti-Defection Law, said his proposed legislation seeks to flag who has primacy in a democracy — the elector who stands in the sun for hours to elect his or her representative or the political party whose whip the representative becomes the helot of.

The bill, introduced by Mr. Tewari for the third time in Lok Sabha after 2010 and 2021, seeks to give parliamentarians the freedom to toe an independent line in voting on bills and motions other than a confidence motion, no-confidence motion, adjournment motion, money bills and financial matters that could affect the stability of a government.