New Delhi/Chandigarh, April 25 -- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was jolted on Friday after Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha announced that seven out of 10 parliamentarians from the Upper House were quitting the party and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), marking a political crisis less than a year before assembly elections in Punjab. In a press conference in Delhi, Chadha - who was recently removed as the party's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha - was joined by his replacement in the Upper House, Ashok Mittal, and Sandeep Pathak, once one of the closest associates of party chief Arvind Kejriwal. "We have decided that we, the 2/3rd members belonging to the AAP in Rajya Sabha, exercise the provisions of the Constitution of India and merge ourselves with the BJP," Chadha said. "There are 10 AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha, more than 2/3rd of them are with us in this. They have signed and this morning we submitted the signed letter and documents to the Rajya Sabha chairman... three of them are here before you. Besides us, there are Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Swati Maliwal," he added. Maliwal, who fell out with Kejriwal and fought a fractious legal battle with his aide Vibhav Kumar two years ago, confirmed she left the AAP. Sahney confirmed that he had "BJP support". Neither Singh nor Gupta responded to multiple calls and messages. Six of the seven members belong to Punjab. Only Sanjay Singh, Balbir Singh Seechewal and ND Gupta remain with the AAP in the Upper House. The young party, which lost control of Delhi just a year ago appeared shaken by the massive mutiny - especially that of Pathak, who spent years with Kejriwal and was the party's general secretary, and Mittal, whom the party had elevated as its deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha just this month and who was raided by the Enforcement Directorate soon after. "The BJP has once again given Punjabis a shove," Kejriwal posted on X. Sanjay Singh, the party's leader in the Rajya Sabha, said he will move to disqualify Chadha, Pathak and Mittal. "I will submit a letter to the Hon'ble Rajya Sabha Chairman, in which a demand will be made to declare Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, and Sandeep Pathak disqualified from Rajya Sabha membership for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as this is tantamount to voluntarily relinquishing membership of their original party under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution," he posted on X. But if all seven leaders really have quit the AAP, they might be safe. Since two-thirds of the members are resigning, including the deputy leader in the Upper House, Ashok Mittal, the members are not liable for disqualification under the anti-defection law, which stipulates that two-thirds of the elected members of the party must agree to merge with another, said people aware of the details. As per the law, the chairman of the House - vice-president CP Radhakrishnan - will have to determine whether the merger is in accordance with the anti-defection law....