In a major setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, and Ashok Mittal, resigned from the party on Friday.
Chadha, who was recently removed as the deputy leader of AAP in the Upper House of Parliament and was replaced by Mittal, announced that two-thirds of AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs had decided to leave the party and would merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a separate faction. He also mentioned that party MPs Harbhajan Singh and Swati Maliwal were among those quitting AAP.
"We, two-thirds of the Members of Parliament belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Rajya Sabha, will exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)" Raghav Chadha stated on X, while highlighting this constitutional position.
Under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, Rajya Sabha members can avoid disqualification under anti-defection rules if at least two-thirds of their party’s legislators agree to merge with another political party.
According to Chadha, AAP has a total of 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, and with seven of them leaving the party, the two-thirds requirement has been met.
He stated he had a letter confirming the formation of a separate bloc and its merger with the BJP, signed by four other AAP Rajya Sabha members. He named himself along with Ashok Mittal, who had recently replaced him as AAP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Sandeep Pathak, Rajinder Gupta, Harbhajan Singh, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, and Swati Maliwal as part of the group.
"In the Rajya Sabha, the Aam Aadmi Party has 10 MPs. More than two-thirds of them are with us in this initiative. They have already signed, and this morning we submitted all the required documentation, including signed letters and other formal paperwork, to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha," Chadha said, as per PTI.
If Raghav Chadha had left AAP on his own, he would have lost his Rajya Sabha seat under the anti-defection law. In general, a legislator can be disqualified for giving up party membership or for voting against the party whip.
As of now, the three MPs who continue to remain with AAP are Sanjay Singh, Balbir Singh Seechewal and ND Gupta.
If a party expels an MP, the member does not automatically lose their Rajya Sabha seat, as per the law. This meant that if AAP had removed him from the party, he could still have remained in Parliament while taking an anti-AAP position. The only way to challenge this would have been for the party to prove anti-party activities, a long and subjective process decided by the Rajya Sabha chairperson.
Chadha settled the situation and managed to gather the required support today.
AAP has suffered a major setback in Punjab, as six of the seven Rajya Sabha MPs who left the party are from the state. These MPs were elected in 2022 after AAP won an overwhelming majority in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections. With their exit, the party is now left with only one Punjab-based Rajya Sabha MP, environmentalist and spiritual leader Balbir Singh Seechewal.
The development is significant for Punjab’s ruling party, especially with the state Assembly elections just 10 months away. All six departing MPs still hold Rajya Sabha terms that will continue until April 2028.
Meanwhile, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal hit out at the BJP, alleging that the ruling party at the Centre has "shoved" the people of Punjab. He took to X and said, “BJP ne fir se Punjabio ke sath kia dhakka' (The BJP has once again given Punjabis a shove).”
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann described these seven MPs who are joining BJP as “traitors”.
"The seven MPs who are joining the BJP don't represent Punjab, they are traitors," further stating that they would not get benefits in the BJP as well," he said.
