New Delhi: Fourteen years after its inception during a historic anti-corruption movement, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is facing its most severe existential crisis. On Friday, a seismic political shift occurred as seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs announced their departure from the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sparking a fierce
legal and political show down.
Spearheading the defection, Raghav Chadha, who officially joined the BJP alongside Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, defended the move under constitutional provisions. Chadha argued that because two-thirds of the party’s MPs (seven out of ten) have decided to switch allegiances, they are legally protected from disqualification under the Tenth Schedule. He also revealed that Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, and Vikramjit Sahney are part of this rebelling bloc, claiming a joint letter has already been submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan.
However, the AAP is vehemently fighting back, terming the exodus a classic “Operation Lotus.” Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of using central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to intimidate its leaders to destabilise the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government.
In a strategic counter-move, the AAP is attempting to turn the rebels’ gambit against them. According to AAP Rajya Sabha Chief Whip N D Gupta, the party will petition the Chairman for the immediate disqualification of only Chadha, Pathak, and Mittal. The AAP’s legal strategy hinges on the fact that these three have officially joined the BJP, while the remaining four — despite Chadha’s claims and Maliwal’s recent public resignation announcement — have not yet
formally merged with the saffron party.
The ‘Anti-Defection Law’ (Tenth Schedule of the Constitution) was introduced in 1985 to ensure political stability. It dictates that an MP who voluntarily gives up their party membership can be disqualified. However, Paragraph 4 provides an exemption if a faction representing at least two-thirds of the legislative party merges with another.
If the AAP succeeds in officially separating the three defectors from the other four, the rebel group will fall short of the required two-thirds majority, rendering Chadha, Pathak, and Mittal vulnerable to disqualification. As the political drama unfolds, interpretation of the Tenth Schedule by the Rajya Sabha Chairman will determine the ultimate fate of this unprecedented political coup.
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