New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has formally asked Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan to disqualify the seven MPs who quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said the party had urged the chairman to terminate membership of all seven MPs – Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta and Vikram Sahney — as their move violated the anti-defection law.
Singh argued that the seven men had been elected to the Rajya Sabha on AAP’s recommendation, but they chose to leave the party and merge with the BJP.
It was a “violation of constitutional provisions and a betrayal of the public mandate,” claimed Singh.
While announcing the decision on Friday,
Chadha had said that two-thirds of AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs had decided to invoke constitutional provisions to merge with the BJP. “We have decided that we, the two-thirds members belonging to the AAP in the Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP,” Chadha had stated.
But Singh rejected that justification, saying it did not meet the legal threshold required for a valid merger. He said that AAP had consulted legal experts, including senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who indicated that the MPs could face disqualification under the law.
Harbhajan Singh’s security cover removed
Former Team India cricketer Harbhajan, who is yet to formally join the BJP, had his security cover removed by Punjab Police.
Harbhajan’s security included a cover of 9-10 police personnel, but following the announcement of his switch to the BJP, the Punjab Police took this decision.
There were Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel outside his Jalandhar residence following protests against him and other MPs who left AAP.