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Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann to meet President Murmu over Chadha-led AAP MPs' switch to BJP, gets May 5 appointment
Bhagwant Mann seeks unprecedented ‘recall’ of Rajya Sabha members who switched from AAP to BJP, though there is no constitutional provision for such a recall.
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Chandigarh: President Droupadi Murmu has granted an appointment to Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on May 5 following the defection of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Sharing this information, Mann said the President responded to his request for a meeting and scheduled it for 12 noon on Tuesday. He sought the appointment with the President to formally demand the “recall” of six of the rebel MPs elected from the state. Seven MPs, constituting two-thirds of its total strength of 10 in the Upper House, defected to the BJP on April 24, dealing a serious blow to the AAP.
Those who switched sides are Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney (all from Punjab), and Swati Maliwal (Delhi).
What AAP plans
On April 25, Mann sought time to meet the President at the earliest, stating that he plans to meet her along with a delegation of AAP MLAs from Punjab to present his stance on the recall of these MPs.
At a press conference in Chandigarh on Wednesday where the CM shared information about the President’s acceptance of his request for an appointment, he did not clarify whether the party MLAs would accompany him.
No legal provision
The Constitution has no provision for the recall of an elected representative. Legal experts say the idea of “recall” is alien to the Constitution. Ashok Aggarwal, a former advocate general of Punjab said: “Recall is not a provision available in the Constitution under any schedule. There is no question of recall.”
While the chief minister’s move is being seen in party circles as a “show of strength”, the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal has dismissed it as “political theatrics.” Senior Akali leader Daljit Singh Cheema said that under the tenth schedule of the Constitution, taking action against MPs was Parliament’s domain and not the President’s discretion.
