Raghav Chadha, once Arvind Kejriwal’s blue-eyed boy, on Friday put the AAP in poliical crisis as he officially joined the BJP along with three Rajya Sabha MPs. In an explosive press conference, Chadha claimed seven AAP MPs, including Sandeep Pathak, a key face of the party organisation, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney, have quit the party. 

AAP has vehemently accused the BJP of conducting “Operation Lotus”, with senior leader Sanjay Singh terming the move a betrayal of Punjab’s people, alleging the defections aim to destabilise the Bhagwant Mann-led government. He contended that anti-defection laws do not allow any such fragmentation or grouping in parliament.

“Anti-defection law clearly states that any type of split or faction cannot happen in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. It does not carry any legal recognition, even if it’s a two-thirds majority. I am writing to the vice president of India, and chairman of Rajya Sabha, to disqualify the seven MPs,” Singh said on Saturday.

The AAP had 10 lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha until the shocking Raghav Chadha led exodus on Friday afternoon. Singh had earlier slammed the defection as a work of the BJP under ‘Operation Lotus’ — warning that the people of Punjab would not forgive the seven MPs.

The significance of two-thirds majority

Chadha revealed during an address on Friday that he and six other AAP Rajya Sabha MPs had already informed the Chairman of the House of their exit in accordance with the rules.

The departure of seven out of 10 AAP MPs is particularly significant because it involves two-thirds of the party membership. Conditions outlined under the anti-defection law say that a Rajya Sabha member is not disqualified if their original political party merges with another party. 

The RS member can either join this new party after merging or choose to function as a separate group. But such a ‘merger’ is only recognised if at at least two-thirds of the members of the legislature party agree to it.

Lawmakers from the Telugu Desam Party had followed a similar process as they joined the BJP in June 2019. Four out of six TDP MPs in the Rajya Sabha had defected to the BJP — meeting the constitutional threshold for a ‘merger’ under the Tenth Schedule. Former Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu had accepted their resolution and issued an order merging the TDP Legislature Party in the Rajya Sabha with the BJP.

The defecting lawmakers will have to prove that their original political party has also merged at the organisational level — or at least that the legislative wing has followed the two-thirds rule.

But the decision is ultimately left up to the Chairman (currently Vice President CP Radhakrishnan) and he has the final say on whether to recognise a merger. The Constitution also does not specify a deadline for the Chairman to rule on a disqualification petition.

What does AAP say?

Party sources told ANI that AAP chief whip ND Gupta would submit a letter to the Rajya Sabha Chairman against Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal.

“Gupta’s letter will seek action as per the anti-defection law. These three leaders were seen in public joining the BJP. Rest four were not seen in the public domain, making that move. Hence, the chief whip will lodge the complaint against the three MPs seen in the BJP office,” sources told ANI.

The law requires a split and subsequent merger to come before MPs can join another party. Joining the BJP before the 2/3rds group has officially declared a merger is technically equivalent to ‘voluntarily’ giving up their AAP membership — which incidentally is an immediate ground for disqualification under Paragraph 2.

But the four MPs had announced the merger of the two-thirds group before stepping into the BJP stage and accepting the party scaf. The group also confirmed that they submitted a signed letter and formal documents to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on the morning of April 24 — hours before they were seen at the BJP office.

Can the seven Rajya Sabha MPs be disqualified?

Legal interpretations vary — with several cases reaching the Supreme Court and High court in previous years. The verdicts have also been different with the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court upholding a merger approved by the state Assembly Speaker in 2019. A separate Supreme Court verdict on the Shiv Sena split had observed that the legislative party could not act independent from the political party.

The decision will ultimately depend on the Vice President of India, and perhaps the courts if the matter is challenged.