NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has filed a petition with the Rajya Sabha Speaker, seeking the disqualification of its seven MPs, who left the party on Friday and announced a merger with the BJP.
The petition challenged the “alleged merger” under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and sought disqualification of the MPs under Section 2(1)(a).
Paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule deals with disqualification by reason of defection. Subparagraph (1) provides that, subject to the provisions of paragraphs 4 and 5, any member of any Council who belongs to any political party shall lose eligibility for membership of the Council.
Addressing a press conference, AAP leader in Rajya Sabha, Sanjay Singh, said that the party has asked the RS president to terminate the membership of the seven legislators under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. “I have asked the Vice President (President) to hear this matter as soon as possible and come to a fair decision,” he said.
Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahni, Harbhajan Singh (all from Punjab) and Swati Maliwal (Delhi) left the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday. Chadha, Mittal and Pathak officially joined the BJP on Friday, while Maliwal announced on Saturday that she too had joined the party after “due consideration”. The rest are yet to make an official announcement about any move to join the BJP.
“Even the Supreme Court lawyer associated with the NDA voter mentioned during a media interaction on Saturday that the membership of these leaders would expire in any case,” Singh said.
Singh alleged that the BJP has “perfected” the “politics of defections” by using central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to intimidate opposition leaders before recruiting them into its ranks.
Chadha announced on Friday that seven of AAP’s 10 Rajya Sabha MPs will leave the party, saying they will merge with the BJP. The move threw the party into turmoil just a year after it lost power in Delhi and ahead of next year’s elections in Punjab, where the party is in power.
However, Singh said there were precedents where courts had given rulings in similar cases, citing cases from Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh.
He added: “He said that the party will continue the legal battle, and the constitutional provisions must be respected.”
Former Lok Sabha general secretary PDT Achary said the party may move the Supreme Court but the final decision on the fate of the legislators rests with the Speaker.
HT reached out to Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Swati Maliwal via phone and messages but they did not respond.
Singh also said that there is intense anger against the seven MPs among the common people in Punjab, with protests being held across the state. He rejected allegations that MLAs in Punjab were in touch with Chadha, saying the false claims were aimed at creating confusion. “No MLA will risk losing his membership,” he said.
Asked about the party approaching the President on the issue, Singh said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann had sought time to present his views on the right to recall issue, adding that the state MLAs feel betrayed and are demanding accountability from these MPs.
