BSP seeks disqualification of its RS member for joining BJP

BSP on Monday initiated the process of getting SP Singh Baghel disqualified as a Rajya Sabha member, days after he defected to BJP.

The BSP has approached Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari with a plea to disqualify Baghel under the provisions of Schedule 10 (anti-defection law) for joining another party without giving up its membership of Parliament, the party said in a statement.

Baghel had joined BJP in presence of state in-charge Amit Shah in Lucknow on Saturday last.

Baghel was elected to Rajya Sabha on a BSP candidate in 2012 and his term is to end on July 4, 2016.

He had won Lok Sabha elections on Samajwadi Party ticket in 1998, 1999 and 2004 from Jalesar. He left SP after the party denied him ticket from Firozabad.

Baghel later contested against Akhilesh Yadav from Firozabad as BSP candidate. He later contested a by-election against Akhilesh's wife Dimple, who had lost against Congress' Raj Babbar.