The Rajya Sabha Secretariat on Monday informed the revised strength of parties in the Upper House, showing that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) tally rose to 113 with the inclusion of seven of the 10 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members. The strength of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance rose to 148 seats, including five nominated legislators, in the 245-member House, bringing it closer to a two-thirds majority.
In a post on X, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan has accepted the merger of the seven AAP lawmakers. Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Rajender Gupta and Vikramjit Singh Sahni are now members of the BJP parliamentary party, he added.
The Rajya Sabha website showed that the seven are members of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Chadha announced on Friday that two-thirds of AAP members in the Rajya Sabha have merged with the BJP. Six of the seven members belong to Punjab, where elections are scheduled to be held next year. Only Sanjay Singh, Balbir Singh Seekhwal and ND Gupta remained with the AAP in the Senate.
Sanjay Singh said the merger was illegal, as the law required the merger of two-thirds of the “original” party. “After consulting constitutional experts and seeking legal opinion from Kapil Sibal, I have sent a petition to [Rajya Sabha] president [CP Radhakrishnan] “It is requested that the membership of these members be terminated in accordance with the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution,” Singh said, referring to the anti-defection law. The law stipulates that two-thirds of a party’s elected members must agree to merge with another party to avoid disqualification.
There is still no information on the president’s response to Singh’s complaint, a person familiar with the matter said. “The issue is not time-bound, and it is the president’s call…”
By the end of the year, 30 more Rajya Sabha seats will be vacated, and the BJP hopes to gain at least five more. The 29-member Congress is the second largest party in the Rajya Sabha, followed by the Trinamool Congress (13), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (8), YSR Congress Party (7), Biju Janata Dal (6), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (5), Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party, and Nationalist Congress Party with four each.
