Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh on Sunday said that the membership of the seven MPs who recently left the party and are set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "will be cancelled" under constitutional provisions.
Singh said the AAP has filed a petition under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and requested Rajya Sabha Chairman C. P. Radhakrishnan to conduct an early hearing and deliver a fair decision.
The development comes after Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha announced his resignation from AAP on Friday, along with six other MPs -- Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahni -- all of whom are expected to join the BJP.
Chadha has maintained that the group, which he described as a two-thirds faction of AAP's Rajya Sabha members, will formally merge with the BJP in the coming days.
Addressing a press conference, Singh said: "Several constitutional experts, including senior advocate Kapil Sibal and constitutional expert P. D. T. Achary, have clearly stated that the seven members who decided to break away from the Aam Aadmi Party and merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party will have their memberships terminated, cancelled, and ended. This has been stated very clearly."
"A petition has been submitted requesting that, under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India, the memberships of these seven members be completely terminated and cancelled. It has been urged that action be taken on this matter. A request has also been made to the Chairman to conduct a hearing at the earliest and deliver a fair decision on it," he added.
Singh termed the move a "necessary" step, alleging that the MPs were elected on an AAP mandate but later defected due to pressure.
"After this, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is said to be adept at this, includes you in their party. This is a betrayal of democracy, a betrayal of the people of Punjab, and also a betrayal of the country's Constitution, an attempt to undermine it," he said.
He further argued that elected representatives should resign before switching parties.
"If you are elected from a party and have differences, you should resign from that party and then go where your views align. You are elected on the mandate of a party, and now, you are speaking against it?... This is why it is expected that the Chairman will soon decide on this petition and cancel their membership. I hope and believe this will happen," Singh added.
--IANS