Summary of this article
Seven former AAP MPs, including Raghav Chadha and Swati Maliwal, are now officially part of the BJP.
The BJP now holds 113 seats in the Rajya Sabha, while AAP has been reduced to three members.
AAP has challenged the move, calling it unconstitutional and seeking disqualification of the MPs.
Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan has approved the merger of seven former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the BJP, following their decision to leave the party last week. With this development, the BJP’s strength in the Rajya Sabha has risen to 113 members.
The seven MPs are Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal and Rajinder Gupta.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju announced the Chairman’s decision on X, welcoming the MPs into the NDA. He wrote that they had joined the alliance under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and criticised the opposition INDIA bloc.
The Rajya Sabha website has since updated its records, listing all seven MPs as members of the BJP Parliamentary Party. As a result, the AAP’s presence in the Upper House has been reduced to three members.
In Punjab, six of the seven Rajya Sabha MPs now belong to the BJP, with only Balbir Singh Seechewal remaining with the AAP. In Delhi, Sanjay Singh and N.D. Gupta continue to represent the AAP, while Swati Maliwal is now listed as a BJP member.
Sources said the seven MPs had submitted a petition to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on Friday requesting recognition as BJP members following their merger, which has now been accepted.
Rijiju also praised the new entrants, saying they had maintained discipline in Parliament and had not engaged in abusive language or unparliamentary behaviour.
The AAP, however, has challenged the move, describing it as unconstitutional. The party said it had filed a petition before the Chairman seeking the termination of the seven MPs’ memberships after their switch to the BJP. AAP MP Sanjay Singh confirmed that he had requested their disqualification.
The political setback began last Friday when the seven MPs resigned from the AAP and announced their merger with the BJP. They claimed the Kejriwal-led party had moved away from its founding principles, values and ethics.
Raghav Chadha, who announced the decision, said that more than two-thirds of AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha had supported the merger in accordance with constitutional provisions. He added that the signed documents had been personally submitted to the Chairman.
Chadha continued his criticism of the AAP on Monday, releasing a video explaining his departure from the party he had helped build. He said he had devoted 15 years of his youth to the organisation, but believed it had changed and was now controlled by a small group pursuing personal interests.
He added that he had considered quitting politics entirely or staying on to reform the party before deciding to join the BJP. Questioning criticism of the move, Chadha asked whether seven MPs could all be wrong and compared the situation to remaining in a toxic workplace.
