Raghav Chadha, other AAP MPs join BJP. What it means for AAP ahead of next year's Punjab assembly polls

It's official now. Raghav Chadha finally announced on 24 April that he is joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with six other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament (MPs).

This comes days after his fallout with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. Chadha addressed a press conference and said that seven out of 10 Rajya Sabha MPs of AAP are set to merge with the BJP.

"As per the Constitution, two-thirds of the total MPs of a party can merge with another party," Chadha said.

Within hours, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of betraying the people of Punjab. "The BJP has once again betrayed Punjabis," Kejriwal said in a post on X.

The other AAP MPs who Chadha named include Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney and Swati Maliwal. Later Chadha, Pathak and Mittal joined the BJP at saffron party headquarters in the national capital.

Chadha, Pathak and Mittal joined the BJP later.

The Friday's coup of sorts by sulking Chadha, means AAP is left with three Rajya Sabha MPs. And of these the only from Punjab is environmentalist spiritual guru Balbir Singh Seechewal. The other two are Sany Singh and ND Gupta – from Delhi where AAP was in power till 2025.

The split is also a major setback for the state's ruling party as it comes months before Punjab assembly elections 2026. AAP has been in power in Punjab under Bhagwant Mann and was in opposition in the previous term.

In 2022 Punjab assembly elections, AAP won a landslide bagging 92 seats in the 117-member house. The AAP lost power in Delhi to the BJP in 2025.

Chadha claimed that nearly two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha MPs had quit the party and would join the BJP as a separate faction.

Chadha said several Rajya Sabha MPs, including disgruntled party leader Swati Maliwal and former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, had also quit AAP.

He claimed that seven out of AAP's 10 Rajya Sabha MPs had resigned from the party.

But as per the same Constitution's Tenth Schedule, that sets out the regulations concerning disqualification on the basis of defection. a member of the Rajya Sabha is exempt from anti-defection disqualification if two-thirds of his/her party’s legislators together agree to merge with another party.

The AAP has 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, of which seven, or two third, have parted ways as per Chadha. This provision protects such a large group from disqualification form Rajya Sabha as long as all six others stand by him. In case even one of the seven MP's decide to overturn the decision, it would be difficult for six others to save their Rajya Sabha seat which is otherwise to end in 2028. .

"The people of Punjab will never forgive the MPs who deserted the Aam Aadmi Party, Singh said.

The defection by Chadha and others is another jolt to Kejriwal's party that lost high-stakes Delhi Assembly Elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2025.

As per the rules, if a party expels a MP or an MLA, the member does not automatically lose the membership of that particular house. In Chadha's case, should AAP expel him, he would still continue to be a Rajya Sabha MP.

For AAP to justify expulsion, Chadha's anti-party activities had to be proved, which, anyway, would not be easy as the case would be decised by Rajya Sabha Chairperson, who is usually close to the ruling party at the Centre — the BJP.

Instead, Raghav mobilised six other MPs to protect himseld from any anti-defection provisions undee the law.