Will AAP Rajya Sabha MPs Face Disqualification After Joining BJP?

📌 Summary:

• Seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal, Vikramjit Sahney — merged with BJP
• Under the 10th Schedule (Anti-Defection Law), a merger is valid if at least two-thirds of a party's legislative wing joins another party
• AAP has 10 Rajya Sabha MPs; 7 joining BJP constitutes 70%, clearing the two-thirds threshold
• Paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule provides the merger exemption — merging members are NOT disqualified
• The Rajya Sabha Chairman (presiding officer) has jurisdiction to decide disqualification petitions
• Key precedents: TDP merger with BJP in 2014; Shiv Sena and NCP splits in Maharashtra (2022–23)
• Critics argue the merger provision weakens the anti-defection law's core purpose of preventing political poaching
• Legal ambiguity remains: whether the merger of the Rajya Sabha wing alone (without the state assembly wing) is valid under the 10th Schedule