The ordinance, if assented to by Governor Sukhdev Singh Kang in the present form, would unsettle existing committees where members defected.

The need for the ordinance stemmed from inadequacies in the existing Panchayat Raj and Municipalities Acts. However, there is no section dealing with defection per se in the Act.

However, the lacuna was sought to be offset by the decision of State Election Commissioner M S Joseph that the anti-defection law, as applicable to members of the Legislative Assembly, would apply to members of panchayats, municipalities and municipalcorporations. Joseph stripped several defectors of their membership.

However, the Kerala High Court division bench, in its interim order, suspended a part of the Election Commissioner's judgment, by allowing `defectors' to continue as members without voting rights, but without participating in important policy matters.

If the governor puts his signature on the ordinance, the cases pending in the High Court become infructuous because it would then uphold the logic in the election commissioner's decision.