New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met with President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday to formally demand the termination of membership for six Rajya Sabha members from Punjab who recently defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Accompanied to the capital by a large delegation of party MLAs and cabinet ministers, Mann used the high-profile meeting to press for a new constitutional provision that would allow for the “recall” of elected or selected members who fail to meet the expectations of the public or abandon their party mandates. The Chief Minister described the recent mass defection as a direct assault on the democratic fabric of the country and requested the President’s urgent intervention as the guardian of the Indian Constitution.
The meeting follows a major political shift on April 24, when seven of the Aam Aadmi Party’s ten Rajya Sabha members—including prominent figures like Raghav Chadha, Harbhajan Singh, and Swati Maliwal—announced their merger with the BJP. Six of these individuals represent Punjab, a move that Mann argued has created a constitutional absurdity where a party with only two seats in the provincial assembly now holds six seats in the upper house of Parliament. Addressing the media following his discussion with the President, Mann characterized the merger as a “murder” of the Constitution and questioned the ethical grounds on which the defectors chose to keep their seats rather than resigning to seek a fresh mandate. He pointedly challenged the former members to prove their revolutionary credentials by stepping down and allowing the party to send new representatives to the House.
During the interaction, Mann presented a formal letter signed by all AAP MLAs in Punjab, emphasizing the distinction between members who are “elected” by the people and those “selected” by the party for the Rajya Sabha. He asserted that since these members were selected based on the party’s platform and core values, their departure to a rival organization should result in an immediate cancellation of their membership to protect the integrity of the legislative process. President Murmu reportedly assured the Chief Minister that she would consult with constitutional experts before providing a formal response to the demands, noting the significance of the issues raised regarding the anti-defection framework.
The day was marked by significant political optics as AAP legislators gathered at the Chief Minister’s residence in Chandigarh before departing for Delhi in buses, carrying placards that labelled the defecting members as “traitors” to Punjab. Although only the Chief Minister was granted a specific time slot for the meeting with the President, the presence of the entire legislative wing in the capital was intended to signal total party unity and communal resolve. In a statement shared on social media, Mann reiterated his government’s commitment to safeguarding the rights and interests of Punjab, vowing to continue the struggle against what he described as unconstitutional manoeuvres by the central ruling party that undermine the electoral mandate of the state’s citizens.
