Raghav Chadha now Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Petitions Committee

Rajya Sabha Member Raghav Chadha has been appointed Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Petitions Committee. He recently joined the BJP.

Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan nominated 10 members of the House to the panel. “Raghav Chadha has been appointed as the chairman of the committee,” a Rajya Sabha notification said. It added that the panel has been reconstituted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman with effect from May 20.

The members of the Petitions Committee include Harsh Mahajan, Ghulam Ali, Shambhu Sharan Patel, Mayank Kumar Nayak, Mastan Rao Yadav Beedha, JB Mather Hisham, Subhasish Khuntia, Ravangra Narzary, and P. Sandosh Kumar. The notification was issued by the Rajya Sabha on May 21st.

According to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the Petitions Committee is one of the oldest committees of Parliament and dates back to the colonial period’s Legislative Assembly. It originated on September 15, 1921, with a resolution introduced by a member of the then Council of State.
Until 1964, petitions in the Rajya Sabha could only be filed on bills and matters related to pending business in the upper house of Parliament. After 1964, when the Rajya Sabha’s Rules of Procedure were amended, the committee’s scope was expanded. According to the changed rules, petitions could also be filed on any matter of public interest.
Raghav Chadha recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with six other Rajya Sabha MPs from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). This brought the BJP’s Rajya Sabha strength to 113, while the AAP was reduced to just three members in the House. Along with Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjeet Singh Sawhney, and Swati Maliwal also joined the BJP..(UPDATED ON 23RD MAY 2026)