Chandigarh, April 25: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday, April 25, sharply dismissed Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's move to seek a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu over the mass defection of AAP's Rajya Sabha MPs to the BJP as nothing more than political theatre. Senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema reminded the Chief Minister that under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, action against MPs for defection falls squarely within Parliament's domain — not the President's discretion.

Akali Dal's Constitutional Counter-Argument

Daljit Singh Cheema, speaking in Chandigarh, stated that the anti-defection law is unambiguous: when two-thirds or more members of a political party merge with another party, no disqualification action can be initiated against them. He argued that CM Bhagwant Mann's petition to the President has no constitutional basis and amounts to symbolic posturing designed to distract from AAP's internal crisis.

Cheema pointed out a glaring contradiction in Mann's moral stance — the Chief Minister had himself approved the defection of one out of three SAD MLAs into AAP and subsequently rewarded that legislator with the chairmanship of a public sector undertaking. "He has no right to take the high moral ground on this issue," Cheema said bluntly.

The Mass Defection That Triggered the Crisis

The political storm erupted after seven AAP Rajya Sabha members — Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Swati Maliwal, and Vikramjit Sahney — announced their resignation from AAP and formal induction into the BJP on Friday, April 24.

Of these seven, six represent Punjab in the Rajya Sabha, with Swati Maliwal being the sole exception. Crucially, since seven out of AAP's 10 Rajya Sabha MPs have defected together, they comfortably cross the two-thirds threshold stipulated by the Tenth Schedule, making disqualification under the anti-defection law legally untenable.

SAD Questions AAP's Democratic Credentials

Cheema went further, questioning why AAP had nominated what he called "ultra-wealthy outsiders" to the Rajya Sabha instead of genuine representatives of Punjab's common people — a direct jab at the party's founding identity as the movement of the aam aadmi. "The people deserve clarity: if accountability is the principle, do citizens have the right to recall MLAs who have failed them, or is your accountability selective?" he asked pointedly.

The Akali Dal challenged AAP to abandon symbolic petitions in New Delhi and instead approach the Governor of Punjab at Lok Bhawan to seek a fresh public mandate. "Only that — and not constitutional posturing — will restore public trust in the party," Cheema asserted.

CM Mann's Response and What He Seeks

Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has formally requested time to meet President Droupadi Murmu, accompanied by AAP MLAs, to present his party's position on the recall of the seven defecting Rajya Sabha members. The move is widely seen as an attempt to keep the political narrative alive and signal to Punjab voters that AAP is fighting back against what it frames as BJP's poaching of elected representatives.

However, constitutional experts and opposition leaders alike note that the President has no direct mechanism to recall or disqualify sitting members of the Upper House — that authority rests with the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha under the anti-defection provisions, and even then, only if the legal threshold for disqualification is met, which it is not in this case.

Broader Political Implications for Punjab

This episode exposes a deepening vulnerability within AAP's political architecture in Punjab. The party swept to power in the state in March 2022 with a historic 92-seat majority, but the mass exit of its Rajya Sabha bloc signals fractures that could embolden further defections ahead of the next assembly cycle. The BJP, which has been seeking a stronger foothold in Punjab — especially after its alliance with the SAD dissolved — stands to gain both organisational strength and symbolic credibility from this acquisition.

For the Akali Dal, the crisis offers a rare opportunity to reassert relevance by positioning itself as the constitutional voice of reason in Punjab's chaotic political landscape. As all three major parties — AAP, BJP, and SAD — manoeuvre ahead of future electoral contests, the defection drama is likely to intensify, with the people of Punjab watching closely to see which party's accountability rhetoric translates into genuine governance.