How numbers stack up for BJP in Rajya Sabha after Raghav Chadha's big move

The ruling National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) Rajya Sabha strength is set to rise as seven of 10 AAP lawmakers in the upper house said they are “merging” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and conveyed it to the Upper House Chairman CP Radhakrishnan.

Deputy leader Ashok Mittal, Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney, and Swati Maliwal resigned as AAP MPs and are set to merge with the BJP.

Because two-thirds of the AAP's Rajya Sabha members are resigning, they are immune to disqualification under the anti-defection law. According to a Hindustan Times (HT) report citing sources, the move meets the legal threshold, which requires at least two-thirds of a party’s elected members to agree to a merger.

Currently, the AAP also holds three seats in the Lok Sabha.

“We have decided that we, 2/3rd of members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge with the BJP,” Raghav Chadha, the former deputy leader of the AAP in the Upper House, told mediapersons.

Seven MPs have signed a letter to the effect, which was submitted to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, he said. Soon after, they called upon BJP president Nitin Nabin.

“I will submit a letter to the Hon’ble Rajya Sabha Chairman, in which a demand will be made to declare Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, and Sandeep Pathak disqualified from Rajya Sabha membership for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as this is tantamount to voluntarily relinquishing membership of their original party under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution,” Singh said in an X post.

“If there is another faction of the AAP, which seeks their disqualification on the grounds that 2/3rd of the original party is not with them, then the Chair has to take a call on disqualifying them,” PDT Achary, former secretary general of the Lok Sabha, told HT.

In this case 2/3rd of the parliamentary party in the Rajya Sabha has merged, shielding them from disqualification.

Achary also noted that, as per law, members can save themselves from disqualification “only if their original political party has merged with another party”.

This means that the seven MPs will have to then claim that theirs is the original party and approach the Election Commission. “They are liable to be disqualified irrespective of 2/3rd members going, so long as no merger of the original AAP has taken place,” he said.

AAP lawmaker’s announcement is a throwback to 2019, when the TDP Parliamentary Party merged with the BJP. Four of the six TDP Rajya Sabha MPs at the time joined the BJP and were spared disqualification.

“As per the rules, the EC has to take a call on which faction will get the symbol, since this is a national party…” he said.

Notably, the seven lawmakers have announced a merger with the BJP and have not sought the AAP’s symbol. AAP had 10 lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha: Sanjay Singh and Narain Dass Gupta are both serving their second terms. The terms of Chadha, Rajinder Gupta, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Harbhajan Singh and Sant Balbir Singh are till 2028; and those of Swati Maliwal, Narain Dass and Sanjay Singh are till 2030.

To avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law, at least two-thirds of a party's elected members must consent to a merger. Under the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act (2003), a merger is legally recognised only if this two-thirds threshold is met within the legislative party.

The Speaker, in case of assemblies and Lok Sabha, or the Chairman of the House, can decide on the disqualification of members.

EC too has clearly laid down rules for the allocation of party name and symbol in the wake of a split. The decision is taken based on the legislative majority.

However, if EC does not have the time to verify the majority claims of either side, it then has the power to freeze the symbol and ask both sides to choose new symbols and party names in the interim.