New Delhi: As many as 111 sitting MPs and MLAs changed political parties after being elected to Parliament or state Assemblies between 2022 and 2026, according to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch.
The analysis covered elections and by-elections held during the period and found that the 111 cases comprised 26 Lok Sabha MPs, seven Rajya Sabha MPs and 78 MLAs. ADR classified the cases into individual defections, party mergers, resignations followed by by-election victories, and disqualifications followed by successful by-election contests.
ADR cautioned that its database may not be exhaustive because there is no systematically maintained and readily accessible official database covering legislators who change political parties.
Nagaland records highest number of switches
Nagaland recorded the highest number of party-switching cases during the period, with 32 MPs and MLAs, accounting for 29% of the total. West Bengal followed with 20 cases, or 18%.
Telangana recorded nine cases, while Goa and Punjab each recorded eight. Maharashtra had six cases, all involving Lok Sabha members who had originally been elected from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and subsequently moved to the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde.
Meghalaya recorded six cases and Manipur five. Arunachal Pradesh and Gujarat had four cases each, while Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan recorded two apiece. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh each recorded one case, while Delhi recorded one Rajya Sabha member switching parties.
The large number of cases in Nagaland was substantially connected with the merger of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) with the Naga People’s Front (NPF) in October 2025.
NDPP, Trinamool Congress and Congress had most exits
The ADR analysis also examined the parties from which legislators moved.
The NDPP recorded the highest number of exits, with 25 representatives, accounting for 23% of the 111 cases. The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) followed with 20 cases, or 18%, while the Congress recorded 19 cases, or 17%.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) accounted for nine cases. The Aam Aadmi Party and Nationalist Congress Party recorded seven each, followed by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) with six, Janata Dal (United) with five and the National People’s Party with four.
Taken together, the NDPP, AITC and Congress accounted for 64 of the 111 cases, or 58% of the total.
The figures refer to representatives who changed parties after winning their respective elections and therefore do not represent the total number of political defections across all levels of Indian politics.
NPF received the highest number of lawmakers
On the receiving side, the Naga People’s Front recorded the largest number of lawmakers joining its ranks, with 32 cases, or 29% of the total.
The BJP received 29 representatives, accounting for 26%, while the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) received 20, or 18%.
The Congress received nine representatives, Shiv Sena received eight, the National People’s Party six and the People’s Party of Arunachal four.
Overall, the NPF, BJP and NCPI together accounted for 81 of the 111 lawmakers who moved to other parties, representing 73% of the cases recorded by ADR.
The numbers describe the parties joined by the lawmakers and do not, by themselves, establish the reasons behind individual decisions to change political affiliation.
West Bengal sees 20 switches
West Bengal was among the states with the largest number of party-switching cases.
ADR’s analysis recorded 20 cases involving representatives originally elected from the All India Trinamool Congress. The cases involved Lok Sabha members who subsequently moved to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India.
The developments followed a significant political realignment in the state during 2026. ADR included these cases in its broader assessment of legislators who changed parties after winning their seats.
The report separates the numerical record of party changes from the political circumstances surrounding individual switches.
What ADR says about anti-defection law
Along with presenting the data, ADR and National Election Watch have called for changes to India’s anti-defection framework.
The organisations recommended that the authority to decide disqualification petitions be moved away from presiding officers. Under their proposal, petitions involving MPs would be decided by the President and those involving MLAs by the respective governors, based on advice from the Election Commission.
ADR has also recommended setting a specific time limit for deciding disqualification petitions.
Another proposal is to restrict legislators who change parties from holding public office until they are re-elected.
These are recommendations made by ADR and National Election Watch and are not changes that have been adopted through this report.
ADR notes impact on some state governments
The report also noted that defections have been associated with changes in the political balance of some state Assemblies.
ADR said that in certain states, recent changes in government were attributed to legislators switching parties. However, the organisation’s report primarily records party changes and does not independently establish that every change in government was caused by defections.
The report’s classification also means that not every case represents an individual MLA or MP simply resigning from one party and joining another while retaining the same seat. Some cases involved mergers, resignations followed by by-elections, or disqualification followed by a fresh election victory.
Report covers four categories of party changes
ADR divided the 111 cases into four categories to distinguish the circumstances under which representatives changed political affiliation.
The first category covers individual switches or defections, where a legislator voluntarily left one party and joined another without resigning from the House.
The second involves party mergers, where the original party or a substantial section of its legislative wing formally merged with another party.
The third category covers representatives who resigned, joined another party and subsequently contested and won a by-election.
The fourth covers members who were disqualified, later joined another party and won their seats again through by-elections.
This classification provides context to the overall figure of 111 and indicates that the cases did not all follow the same political or constitutional process.
Data highlights continuing debate over defections
The ADR analysis provides a snapshot of party changes among elected representatives during the period from 2022 to 2026.
It shows that 111 sitting MPs and MLAs changed political parties after being elected, with the highest number of cases concentrated in Nagaland and West Bengal. The report also records significant movement from the NDPP, AITC and Congress, while the NPF, BJP and NCPI received the largest numbers of representatives among the parties listed.
ADR has acknowledged limitations in compiling the data because of the absence of a central, systematically maintained database on political party switching.
Its recommendations for changes to the anti-defection framework have added another dimension to the report, particularly concerning who should decide disqualification petitions, how quickly those petitions should be resolved and whether defectors should be permitted to hold public office before securing a fresh electoral mandate.