The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has sought the removal of seven of its MPs who merged with the BJP from the Rajya Sabha, citing disqualification on grounds of defection. Seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh and Rajinder Gupta — exited the party on Friday.
Chadha announced the decision in a press conference, saying they had two-thirds of the total number of AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha, a mark needed to avoid disqualification from the House. The party had 10 MPs in the Upper House, of which seven “merged” with the BJP.
“According to the Constitution, two-thirds of the total MPs of a party can merge with another party,” Chadha had said.
What grounds has AAP cited for MPs’ removal?
AAP MP Sanjay Singh, on of the party’s three who remain in the Upper House, on Sunday submitted a petition to Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrishnan seeking disqualification of the seven MPs.
Sanjay Singh, addressing a press conference, claimed the seven MPs’ move was against the provisions of the anti-defection law.
This law, as per the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution under the 52nd Amendment, provides grounds for disqualification if members voluntarily resign from their party, or vote or abstain from voting in the House contrary to the direction issued by his political party. Thus, members can be disqualified if they voluntarily give up party membership or vote against party whips.
One exception to the law is a merger with another party, provided at least ⅔ rd of the legislators agree, a caveat being cited by Raghav Chadha and other other six MPs.
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The AAP has, citing the anti-defection law, urged the Rajya Sabha chairman to terminate the seven leaders’ memberships.
The party has claimed that they were elected to the Upper House on an AAP ticket but later decided to leave the party and join the BJP. Singh said that such defection also constituted a “betrayal” of the people’s mandate, in this case specifically of Punjab, and go against the spirit of the Constitution. Six of the seven MPs who left were Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab.
“After consulting with all the experts and seeking the opinion of Mr (Kapil) Sibal, I have sent a petition to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Vice President of India, requesting that the membership of these seven members be completely terminated, as per the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution,” Singh said.
AAP to approach President Murmu separately
AAP has planned to approach the Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan and President Droupadi Murmu separately. While the party is planning to pursue action in the Parliament, AAP is also looking to escalate the matter at the constitutional level.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann has sought an appointment with the President to formally demand the “recall” of the six defectors elected from the state, people familiar with the matter said, according to an earlier HT report.
The Constitution at present does not have any such “recall” provision.
However, in February, Raghav Chadha had pitched a similar mechanism, termed ‘Right to Recall’, saying it would allow voters to remove non-performing elected representatives before the end of their term.
In this context, Ashok Aggarwal, former advocate general of Punjab, had told HT, “Recall is not a provision available in the Constitution under any schedule at all. There is no question of recall.”
