- Battle Over Rajya Sabha Numbers Deepens as AAP Disputes Defection Claims and Alleges Forged Signatures
Punjab Newsline | Chandigarh
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has sought time to meet President Droupadi Murmu following the reported exit of seven Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party. According to sources in the Punjab CM Office, Mann is planning to visit Delhi along with all party MLAs to present his case and demand the “right to recall” against the MPs who switched sides.
Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh is set to meet the Vice President, seeking disqualification of the defecting MPs. Singh, along with Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, maintained that only three MPs have officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, while the remaining four are still with AAP.
The controversy intensified after Raghav Chadha claimed that out of AAP’s 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, seven are aligned with his faction, which would exempt them from the anti-defection law. Rejecting this claim, Cheema alleged that only three MPs have defected and accused that the signatures of two MPs—Swati Maliwal and Rajinder Gupta—were forged.
The political turmoil comes ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections. On April 24, seven out of AAP’s 10 Rajya Sabha MPs reportedly quit the party, six of them from Punjab. Following the development, Raghav Chadha joined the BJP along with MPs Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak. Chadha also claimed that MPs Harbhajan Singh, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta are backing his camp.