Raghav Chaddha Quits AAP: Kejriwal-Led Party To Move Plea To Disqualify 7 MPs Under Anti-Defection Law

New Delhi: In a major blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, along with six other members of the Rajya Sabha, including Sandeep Pathak and Swati Maliwal, have reportedly quit the party on Friday.

AAP is reportedly set to move a plea to disqualify these seven MPs under the anti-defection law. Chadha has announced that he, along with other rebel MPs, will merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"We have decided that we, the 2/3rd members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP," Chadha said.

Sandeep Pathak and newly appointed Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Ashok Mittal also announced their exit from AAP and will join the BJP. Reportedly, he could be made a minister after he joins the BJP.

Chadha had been with the AAP since its inception in 2012 and was considred very close to Arvind Kejriwal.

What is the Anti-Defection law?

The Anti-Defection Law was introduced in 1985 via the 52nd Constitutional Amendment to stop the "Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram" culture of the 1960s, where legislators frequently hopped between parties for personal gain. Its primary goal is to ensure that when citizens vote for a candidate based on their party affiliation, that representative cannot simply switch sides the next day without consequences. It penalises "floor-crossing" by disqualifying lawmakers who defect, effectively stripping them of their seats in Parliament or State Assemblies.

Why the two-thirds rule is critical

Under the current law, an individual MP or MLA cannot simply quit their party and join another without losing their seat. However, there is a major exception known as the merger rule. Following the 91st Amendment (2003), if at least two-thirds of the elected members of a legislative party agree to merge with another party, they are exempt from disqualification.

In the context of the recent AAP crisis, for a group of MPs to join the BJP and keep their seats, they would need to meet this 66.6 per cent threshold. Without this majority, any individual who "voluntarily gives up membership" or joins a new party, as seen with the MCD councillors who formed the IVP, faces immediate disqualification from their current post.