The number of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajya Sabha has increased to 113. Speaker CP Radhakrishnan has approved the merger of Raghav Chadha and six other MPs who left the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Losing two-thirds of its MPs is a major blow to the Aam Aadmi Party, due to which it is now left with only three members in the upper house of Parliament.
A trio of MPs – Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal – on Friday quit the Aam Aadmi Party and joined the BJP in the presence of the party leadership. Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh and Swati Maliwal have also joined the BJP. Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh had officially petitioned Rajya Sabha Speaker CP Radhakrishnan to disqualify the seven MPs. The petition challenged the “purported merger” under Article 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and sought disqualification of the MPs under Article 2(1)(a).
Article 2 of the Tenth Schedule deals with disqualification on the ground of defection. Sub-section (1) provides that subject to the provisions of articles 4 and 5, a member of the House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House.
Clause (a) of this sub-section further specifies that such disqualification occurs when the member voluntarily gives up the membership of that political party. Singh challenged the validity of the merger citing the requirements contained in the Constitution.
However, as per the Tenth Schedule, there cannot be disqualification of MPs in case of merger of an original political party with another political party, provided the merger involves two-thirds of the members. Seven MPs of Aam Aadmi Party fulfilled this condition by merging with BJP.
The move has drawn sharp reaction from Aam Aadmi Party leaders, who have termed it a “betrayal”, while the BJP has warmly welcomed it.