The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is set to see its Rajya Sabha strength rise after an AAP MP announced the merger of seven of the 10 party lawmakers in the upper house with the ruling party.
The AAP MPs, who have conveyed this to the Upper House Chairman CP Radhakrishnan, are not liable for disqualification under the anti-defection law as two-thirds of the members of the Parliamentary Party in RS are resigning.
The BJP currently has 106 members, and the NDA's tally is 141 (including the seven nominated). These figures are now expected to rise to 113 and 148, respectively.
The AAP also has three MPs in the Lok Sabha, and the party's leader Sanjay Singh has demanded the disqualification of the seven lawmakers for joining the BJP.
However, former secretary general of the Lok Sabha PDT Achary said that the seven MPs will have to claim that theirs is the original party and approach the election commission to save themselves from disqualification.
