ADR Report: Party Switching by Elected Leaders Across States Draws Attention!

According to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch, 111 sitting MPs and MLAs changed political parties after being elected between 2022 and 2026. The analysis covers 26 Lok Sabha members, seven Rajya Sabha members and 78 MLAs. ADR classified the cases as individual defections, party mergers, resignations followed by by-election victories, and disqualifications followed by successful by-election contests.

Nagaland recorded 32 cases, all involving MLAs, while West Bengal recorded 20 cases involving Lok Sabha members. Telangana reported nine cases involving MLAs elected from the BRS, with Congress being the principal recipient. Goa and Punjab recorded eight cases each, while Maharashtra reported six. ADR noted that its database may not be exhaustive because there is no systematically maintained official database of such party switches.