When Raghav Chadha led six Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party last week, he attempted to prevent Arvind Kejriwal from receiving a potentially devastating blow.
The AAP lost seven of its ten MPs as a result of Chadha's "betrayal," and it will probably face a protracted legal struggle over the anti-defection law, or the Tenth Schedule legislation, which mandates a two-thirds threshold from parliamentarians jumping parties.
The so-called "two-thirds law" describes the circumstances under which parliamentarians may change parties and was intended to prevent political defections motivated by office or power.One of those requirements is the two-third threshold, which states that the number of members wishing to change parties must equal two-thirds of the original party's House strength.
Members can either join the new party or operate independently if that requirement is satisfied, and they cannot be disqualified.That figure was seven in the Chadha-AAP case. Six plus Chadha made the cut.
Additionally, sources told NDTV that Chadha, who was singled out by AAP leaders this month for soft-peddling or avoiding criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would be appointed a union minister now that he has joined his new employers.

However, things may have turned out differently if his first bill as a Rajya Sabha MP had been passed back in August 2022.
Chadha proposed a change that would raise the threshold to three-fourths and prohibit MPs who defected from running for office for the following six years. The cut-off number would have been eight, or Chadha plus seven, if the bill had been approved.
Would this split have been prevented by that?
There may be answers in parallel worlds, but one thing is certain: Chadha and the BJP would have reconsidered the "can't contest in elections for six years" clause (assuming an eighth defecting MP), which would have saved the AAP.

Chadha's third-quarter bill
When he introduced his bill, the Punjab MP vehemently denounced "nefarious floor crossing by legislators in total disregard of the democratic wishes of the electorate who returned them."
Then, he proposed amending certain parts of the Constitution, such as Article 102, which addresses the grounds for disqualifying an MP or MLA, and requiring MPs who defect to appear before the House Chair within a week of withdrawing their support.
The time was crucial.
According to data from the Association of Democratic Reforms, more than 100 MPs and MLAs, including Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, joined the BJP between 2016 and 2021. The government of his former party was overthrown and its long-term prospects were hampered by Scindia's change.Chadha stated that strengthening the Tenth Schedule would remove a "blot on our democracy" and that he wished to see "the prevention of horse-trading" of elected members.
What will happen to the AAP now?
Less than 15 years old, Kejriwal's party is currently struggling to survive. If the seven MPs' flip is sustained, as recent defections of a similar nature indicate, the total number of MPs in Parliament will be reduced to only six.
There had been internal talk about Chadha, but there was no sign that so many people would go at once, party sources told NDTV.According to party insiders, the Rajya Sabha Chairman is expected to approve the merger request, therefore the only apparent choice will be to take legal action. The AAP has already stated that it will seek the disqualification of these seven.
Chadha's departure also makes room for other disgruntled AAP politicians, such as its Delhi MLA Aaley Iqbal. This would be a double blow to the party prior to the Punjab poll and its aspirations to increase its presence in Gujarat.
What did Kejriwal say?

Kejriwal responded in a single sentence. "BJP has once again betrayed Punjabis," the former chief minister of Delhi declared on X.
After Kejriwal dismissed Chadha as the party's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha on April 2, the first indications of conflict between the AAP and Chadha surfaced.All of this takes place prior to Punjab's election next year, when the AAP government, headed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, will seek a second term from the electorate. Chadha is seen to have been crucial to the AAP's victory in the most recent election.
As the AAP's national spokesperson, Chadha took center stage and frequently participated in TV discussions. At the age of 26, he was named national treasurer of the party. He was chosen as the vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board after winning the Rajinder Nagar seat in the 2020 Delhi election. He was chosen by the AAP for the Rajya Sabha in 2022.