Article 70, an anti-floor-crossing provision, was inserted in the original Constitution of 1972 following the bitter experience of the- then Pakistani regime. ‘Anti-floor-crossing’ denotes voting against one’s own party in the Parliament or resigning from the Parliament in order to take the side of the other party in the house. Thus, Article 70 states that if a member of the Parliament votes against or resigns from the political party he/she was nominated from, he/she shall vacate his/her seat in the Parliament.

Obviously, this is a controversial Article in our solemn Constitution which guarantees democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and conscience.

Nonetheless, Article 70 too should not be kept as it is. It can be amended giving scope to MPs to vote against the party after prior approval of the party, except on the motion of no confidence. That means, the amended article Article 70 would empower MPs 

1) to vote against the party with prior approval of the party;

2) However, not to vote against their party in a motion of no-confidence as stability is of paramount importance in a fragile democracy like Bangladesh.