How Raghav Chadha’s proposed bill would have prevented him from leaving AAP to join BJP

The Aam Aadmi Party is staring at a crisis. Raghav Chadha and six other AAP Rajya Sabha MPs switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last week, bringing down the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's tally in the Upper House to three.

There have been mixed public reactions to Chadha’s move, with the AAP vowing to seek the disqualification of the MPs who split the party. Chadha and his other colleagues would not have been able to exit the AAP had the young politician’s own bill, proposed four years ago, been passed and become law.

What was that bill? We take a look.

India’s anti-defection law

The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution lays down the process for the disqualification of a lawmaker on grounds of defection.

A member can be disqualified if they vote or abstain from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the political party they belong to. The law is also applicable if a member has “voluntarily given up his membership of such political party”.

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It applies to lawmakers in Parliament as well as state Assemblies.

The anti-defection law does not apply if the “original political party merges with another political party”.

The legislation further states that the “merger of the original political party of a member of a House shall be deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger.”

Raghav Chadha’s bill on defection

On August 5, 2022, barely three months after he entered the Rajya Sabha, the then AAP MP, Raghav Chadha, proposed a Private Member’s Bill to tighten India’s anti-defection law.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill he introduced sought to require lawmakers wanting to switch parties to have a three-fourths majority of their original party’s legislative strength, in place of the current two-thirds threshold.

Chadha cited “nefarious floor crossing by legislators in total disregard of the democratic wishes of the electorate who returned them”, as per an Indian Express report.

The objectives of the proposed legislation stated that it aimed to “strengthen our democracy and help our public representatives in becoming informed lawmakers rather than political party workers” by amending Articles 102 and 191 of the Constitution.

As per Article 102 (2) of the Constitution, "A person shall be disqualified for being a member of either House of Parliament if he is so disqualified under the Tenth Schedule."

Article 191 (2) states, "A person shall be disqualified for being a member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council of a State if he is so disqualified under the Tenth Schedule."

The bill also suggested that if lawmakers change their party after winning the election, they should be banned from contesting elections for six years to “prevent ‘Resort Politics’”. It stated that such elected representatives must appear before the Chair “within 7 days of withdrawing support to a government”, or risk disqualification in case of non-compliance.

“…In Tenth Schedule to the Constitution…for sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 4, the following shall be substituted:— (2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph, the merger of the original political party of a member of a House shall be deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than three-fourth of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger…” the proposed law stated.

The bill stated that while the anti-defection law envisaged “the prevention of horse-trading” of legislators, the problem was still “notoriously prevalent”. It claimed there was “rampant misuse of the Tenth Schedule” and instances of it being bypassed “are a blot on our democracy”, reported Indian Express. 

The bill remains pending. If it had been enacted, Chadha would not have been able to engineer a split in the AAP.

Seven MPs, including Chadha, resigned from the AAP and joined the BJP last week, citing that two-thirds of the party's legislators agreed to “merge with” the saffron party.

If his bill had become a law, he would have needed the support of seven MPs and not six from the AAP to jump ship. These lawmakers would also have been barred from contesting elections for six years for splitting the Kejriwal-led party.

Raghav Chadha justifies BJP switch

Raghav Chadha has faced flak since he left the AAP for the BJP.

Amid the backlash, the 37-year-old Rajya Sabha MP shared a video on Instagram defending his move. He said he gave up a "great career" and "didn't come into politics to make my career".

Chadha claimed he left the AAP because "this is not the old party" and alleged a "toxic work environment".

He said, "You are stopped from speaking in Parliament", referring to the Kejriwal-led party dismissing him as its Rajya Sabha deputy leader on April 2.

"This political party is now in the hands of some corrupt and compromised people," the MP alleged.

"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.

Of the seven MPs who quit the AAP, six are from Punjab — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, Rajinder Gupta, Ashok Mittal and Harbhajan Singh. Swati Maliwal is the seventh AAP MP to join the BJP.

After Chadha joined the BJP last week, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said he would write to the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha seeking the disqualification of these seven MPs who switched to the BJP.

"Anti-defection law clearly states that any type of split or faction cannot happen in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. It does not carry any legal recognition, even if it's a two-thirds majority," Singh said.

The AAP said it had been "betrayed" by Chadha despite giving him every opportunity, including making him the youngest ever Rajya Sabha MP at 33.

As per NDTV sources, Chadha could be made a Union minister by the BJP, which now has 113 MPs in the Rajya Sabha after Chairman CP Radhakrishnan approved the merger of the seven AAP lawmakers with the saffron party.

With inputs from agencies