AAP seeks disqualification of 7 Rajya Sabha MPs amid defection row

The political fallout from the recent defection of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs intensified on April 26, with the party formally approaching the Rajya Sabha Chairman seeking their disqualification.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said the party has submitted a petition requesting termination of the memberships of the seven MPs who switched allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), calling the move a violation of anti-defection provisions.

The MPs include Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Swati Maliwal, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Rajinder Gupta and Harbhajan Singh, who resigned from AAP and joined the BJP earlier this week.

AAP has argued that the MPs’ move does not qualify as a valid merger under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and therefore warrants disqualification.

The matter is now expected to be taken up by the Rajya Sabha Chairman, who will decide on the petition seeking action against the MPs under anti-defection laws.

Meanwhile, developments on the ground have also unfolded following the defections. Punjab Police withdrew the security cover provided to Harbhajan Singh shortly after his switch to the BJP, with personnel deployed for his protection recalled.

However, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs stepped in soon after to grant CRPF security to the cricketer-turned-politician. A day before AAP workers had staged a protest outside his residence in Punjab’s Jalandhar.

The protests saw AAP workers demonstrating outside his house, with “gaddar” (traitor) spray-painted on the boundary wall. Similar protests were reported outside the residences of Ashok Mittal and Rajinder Gupta, who also left the party.

The demonstrations followed the announcement by Raghav Chadha that he and six other Rajya Sabha MPs that they were exiting AAP to join the BJP.