NDA’s Rajya Sabha count set to get a boost after new entries

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is set to see its Rajya Sabha strength rise after an AAP MP said seven of the 10 party lawmakers in the upper house were “merging” with the ruling partyand have conveyed this to the Upper House Chairman CP Radhakrishnan. Since two-thirds of the members of the Parliamentary Party in RS are resigning, including the deputy leader in the Upper House, Ashok Mittal, the members are not liable for disqualification under the anti-defection law, which stipulates that two-thirds of the party’s elected members have to agree to merge with another, said people aware of the details. The AAP also has three MPs in the Lok Sabha. NDA’s Rajya Sabha count set to get a boost after new entriesAs per the law, the Chairman of the House will have to determine whether the merger is in accordance with the anti-defection law. While the BJP currently has 106 members, the NDA’s tally is 141 (including the seven nominated). These figures are now expected to rise to 113 and 148, respectively. The BJP also expects to add at least five more seats by the end of the year when over 30 seats fall vacant, bringing its tally closer to the two-thirds mark of 163. Former deputy leader of the AAP in the Upper House Raghav Chadha, told mediapersons, “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.” He said, seven MPs have signed a letter to the effect, which was submitted to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.Following their announcement, the seven lawmakers also called on BJP president Nitin Nabin. AAP leader Sanjay Singh said in a post on X: “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.” As per the law, the Chairman of the House will have to determine whether the merger is in accordance with the anti-defection law. “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,” said PDT Achary, former secretary general of the Lok Sabha. In this case 2/3rd of the parliamentary party in the RS has merged, shielding them from disqualification. He added 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 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. In case of a split in the party, Achary said, Arvind Kejriwal, the founder and National Convenor, can move the Election Commission to lay claim to the party’s symbol. “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. To be sure, the seven lawmakers have announced a merger with the BJP and have not sought the AAP’s symbol. The AAP has 22 MLAs in Delhi and 92 in Punjab where it is the ruling party. It also has four in Gujarat, one in Jammu and Kashmir and two in Goa. The 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 —Y.S. Chowdary, C.M. Ramesh, Garikapati Mohan Rao, and T.G. Venkatesh—joined the BJP, and were spared disqualification under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. The TDP and the BJP are now allies. Under the anti-defection law at least two-thirds of the elected members of a political party must agree to a merger with another party to avoid disqualification. A merger is considered valid when members of the legislative party agree to it, as per the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003. The Speaker (in case of assemblies and Lok Sabha) or Chairman of the House can decide on disqualification of members. EC too has clearly laid down rules for allocation of party name and symbol in the wake of a split. The decision is taken on the basis of 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. The 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. The AAP also has three MPs in Lok Sabha. Smriti covers an intersection of politics and governance. Having spent over a decade in journalism, she combines old fashioned leg work with modern story telling tools.