New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party has sought the disqualification of seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs who recently merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party, triggering a legal and constitutional debate over the anti-defection law.
The MPs — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh and Rajinder Gupta — announced their exit from AAP on Friday, stating that their decision was backed by two-thirds of the party’s strength in the Upper House. With AAP having 10 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, the support of seven members meets the numerical threshold required to claim protection under the merger provision.
Following the development, AAP leader Sanjay Singh submitted a petition to Rajya Sabha Chairman C. P. Radhakrishnan seeking their disqualification. Singh argued that the MPs had effectively given up their party membership, making them liable for action under the anti-defection framework.
The dispute centres on the interpretation of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, introduced through the 52nd Amendment. The law provides for disqualification if a legislator voluntarily leaves their party or acts against its directives in the House. However, it also includes an exception in cases where at least two-thirds of a party’s legislators agree to merge with another party — a clause cited by Chadha and the other MPs to justify their move.
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AAP, however, has contested the applicability of this exception, maintaining that the merger does not meet the required legal standards and should attract disqualification.
The party is also preparing to escalate the matter beyond Parliament. According to reports, AAP plans to approach both the Rajya Sabha Chairman and President Droupadi Murmu seeking action against the MPs.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is expected to seek an appointment with the President to demand the “recall” of the defecting MPs elected from the state. However, the Constitution does not currently provide for any such recall mechanism for sitting legislators.
Interestingly, Chadha himself had earlier advocated a “Right to Recall” system, proposing that voters should have the power to remove elected representatives before the end of their term — a position that now adds a political dimension to the ongoing controversy.
The matter now rests with the Rajya Sabha Chairman, who will examine the petition and determine whether the MPs’ merger with the BJP is valid under the anti-defection law or warrants their disqualification from the House.
