AAP Demands Disqualification of Seven MPs Who Defected to BJP; Files Petition with Rajya Sabha Chairman

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party has formally demanded the disqualification of seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs who resigned from the party and subsequently joined the BJP, with senior AAP leader and MP Sanjay Singh writing to Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan calling the defections a violation of the anti-defection law.

The seven MPs — Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikram Sahni, and Swati Maliwal — resigned from AAP on Friday and joined the BJP shortly after. The defecting MPs had alleged that the party under Arvind Kejriwal had strayed from its founding principles and core values.

AAP currently has 10 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, and the loss of seven in one stroke is a severe blow to the party's upper house strength. Raghav Chadha has argued that the anti-defection law does not apply in this case because more than two-thirds of the party's MPs have moved together — a provision in the law that permits a merger without inviting disqualification.

AAP, however, has rejected this argument. Sanjay Singh contended that six of the seven defectors are Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab, elected on the AAP ticket. Moving to another party without resigning their seats is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution and a betrayal of the people's mandate, he said, urging the Rajya Sabha Chairman to uphold democratic norms by cancelling their membership.