Raghav Chadha made a shocking announcement on Friday, revealing that he and six other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs would be merging with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The move aims to ensure the retention of their membership in the upper house, with Chadha stating that more than two-thirds of the AAP's 10 Rajya Sabha MPs were part of the decision.
The seven MPs who have switched sides include Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney, and Swati Maliwal.
The majority of the defectors, six out of the seven, are from Punjab and were elected in 2022 after the AAP won the state elections with a massive mandate.
Each of the MPs has a unique background, with Raghav Chadha being a chartered accountant and former MLA in Delhi, Ashok Mittal being the founder of Lovely Professional University, and Sandeep Pathak being an academic-turned-politician.
The move has sparked interest, with Chadha underlining the provisions of the Constitution's Tenth Schedule, which states that a member of the Rajya Sabha is exempt from anti-defection disqualification only if two-thirds of their party's legislators agree to merge with another party.
