AAP submits disqualification plea against 7 MPs to RS chair

NEw new delhi: The Aam Aadmi company (AAP) has submitted a petition to the Rajya Sabha chairman, seeking the disqualification of its vii MPs, who quit the company on fri and announced a merger with the Bharatiya Janata Party.The petition challenged the “purported merger” under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and sought the disqualification of the MPs under its paragraph 2(1)(a).Paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule deals with disqualification on the ground of defection. Sub-paragraph (1) provides that, subject to the provisions of paragraphs 4 and 5, a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified from being a member of the House.Addressing a press conference, Sanjay Singh, AAP’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, said that the party has requested the RS Chairman to terminate the membership of the seven lawmakers under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. “I have demanded from the Vice President (Chairman) that this matter be heard at the earliest and that a just decision be delivered,” he said.Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney, Harbhajan Singh (all from Punjab) and Swati Maliwal (Delhi) quit the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday. Chadha, Mittal and Pathak formally joined the BJP on Friday, while Maliwal announced on Saturday that she too had joined the party after “due consideration”. The rest are yet to make a formal announcement of any move to join the BJP.“Even a Supreme Court lawyer associated with an NDA constituent had stated during a media interaction on Saturday that the membership of these leaders would go in any case,” Singh said.Singh alleged that the BJP has “perfected” the “politics of defections” by using central agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to intimidate opposition leaders before inducting them into its ranks.Chadha on Friday announced that seven of the AAP’s 10 Rajya Sabha MPs were quitting the party, saying the they would merge with the BJP. The move pushed the party into turmoil just a year after losing power in Delhi and ahead of the next year’s elections in Punjab where the party is in power.Singh, however, said that there are precedents where courts have delivered verdicts in similar cases, citing instances from Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh.“He said the party would continue to pursue the legal battle and that constitutional provisions must be upheld,” he added.Former Lok Sabha secretary general PDT Achary said the party may move the Supreme Court but the final decision on the fate of the lawmakers rests with the chairperson of the House.HT reached out to Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Swati Maliwal over phone and messages but they did not respond.Singh also said there is strong anger against the seven MPs in the public in Punjab, with protests taking place across the state. He rejected claims that Punjab MLAs were in touch with Chadha, saying the false claims were being made to create confusion. “No MLA would risk losing their membership,” he said.To a question about the party approaching the President over the issue, Singh said Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has sought time to present views on the Right to Recall issue, adding that state MLAs feel betrayed and are demanding accountability from these MPs.