New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Monday officially accepted the merger of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal’s party in the Upper House to three.
After this transition, the BJP’s strength in the Upper House has increased to 113. Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta are the seven MPs who merged with the BJP.
The Rajya Sabha website now shows that the seven MPs are part of the BJP list of members. Of the total seven MPs representing Punjab in Rajya Sabha, six are with the BJP and only one remains with AAP. In Delhi, of the total three MPs two now remain with the AAP and one with the BJP. Sanjay Singh and N D Gupta (both AAP) and Swati Maliwal (BJP) represent Delhi in Rajya Sabha.
“The development brings the ruling alliance closer to the crucial two-thirds majority mark of 164 in the 245-member House, a threshold that carries major legislative and constitutional significance,” renowned constitutional expert Satya Prakash Singh told.
“A two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha is particularly important for the passage of constitutional amendment bills under Article 368 of the Constitution. Such amendments require not only a simple majority but also the support of at least two-thirds of members present and voting,” Singh said.
The seven MPs petitioned the Rajya Sabha Chairman on Friday to be treated as BJP MPs after the merger, sources said, adding the petition has been accepted.
“Honb’le Chairman Rajya Sabha Shri C.P. Radhakrishnan Ji has accepted the merger of 7 AAP MPs with BJP. Now, Raghav Chadha ji, Sandeep Pathak ji, Ashok Mittal ji, Harbhajan Singh ji, Swati Maliwal ji, Rajinder Gupta ji and Vikramjit Singh Sahney ji are Members of BJP Parliamentary Party,” he said on X.
“For a long time I’ve observed that these 7 Honb’le MPs have not resorted to abusive languages and never created any indiscipline and Un-Parliamentary conducts,” Rijiju said.
“Welcome to nation building NDA under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and good bye to Tukde-Tukde INDI Alliance,” the minister said.
The AAP had earlier on Sunday termed their merger as “unconstitutional” and said they have moved a petition before the RS Chairman seeking the termination of the membership of the seven MPs, who had switched sides.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh had said that he has submitted a petition to Chairman Radhakrishnan seeking the disqualification of the seven party MPs in the Upper House who recently quit the AAP and announced their merger with the BJP.
On Friday last, the AAP suffered a jolt when the seven Rajya Sabha MPs quit and announced their merger with the BJP, alleging that the Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals. Chadha announced on Friday that exercising the provisions of the Constitution, more than two-thirds of the AAP MPs in Rajya Sabha have merged with the BJP.
He said seven MPs signed the document, which was submitted to the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and he personally handed over the signed documents.
For the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, inching closer to this mark signals a potential easing of legislative bottlenecks.
“It enhances the government’s ability to pursue structural reforms that may require constitutional backing, ranging from governance reforms to changes in federal arrangements or electoral processes. In recent years, several key legislations have seen intense debates in the Rajya Sabha, underlining the importance of numbers in ensuring smoother passage,” Singh stated.
Beyond constitutional amendments, a stronger position in the Rajya Sabha also gives the ruling alliance greater leverage in passing ordinary bills, particularly in situations where opposition unity has previously stalled proceedings. It reduces dependence on smaller parties or cross-voting and allows the government to maintain legislative momentum, Singh added.
However, even with 145 members, the NDA still needs additional support or strategic alliances to comfortably cross the 164 thresholds during voting on critical bills.
Raghav’s ‘Toxic Work Environment’ Jibe
Chadha released a video statement on Instagram on Monday explaining the reasons for his switching to the BJP. Speculations are also rife that Chadha is now being considered for the post of a Union minister.
In the video, Chadha said he gave up a “great career” and that he “didn’t come into politics to make my career”. He quit Arvind Kejriwal’s side, he said, because “this is not the old party” and claimed a “toxic work environment” had been engendered within it, causing him to be “stopped from working”.
“For the last three days you have been sending me a lot of messages… most are congratulating me but some want to know the reasons for my decision. Today’s video is for them and for those who didn’t seen my press conference (last week, in which he announced his realignment).”
“Friends, before coming to politics, I was a practicing Chartered Accountant. I had a great career in front of me but I left that and came into politics. I didn’t come to politics to make my career,” he said.
“This political party (AAP) is now in the hands of some corrupt and compromised people,” he said. “They don’t work for the country, but for their own personal gain.”
All this, Chadha claimed, left him three options – leave politics, stay and try to fix the AAP, or to “take my energy and experience and do positive politics.”
The proof his actions, he also said, was in the fact that six other party leaders had joined him in walking away from Kejriwal.
“That’s why I, not alone, not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six other MPs… that is a total of seven… decided to break our relationship with this political party. One person can be wrong. Two people can be wrong. But not all seven people can be wrong,” he said.
Significantly, by the end of the year, 30 more Rajya Sabha seats will be vacated, and the BJP is hopeful of gaining a few more seats in its bucket.
