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Raghav Chadha has been appointed as Chairman of the Committee of Petitions of Rajya Sabha.

Raghav, who recently defected to BJP takes charge of the reconstituted Petitions Committee that has come into effect f4om 20th of May 2026, according to the Rajya Sabha secretariat.

The other members of this important Committee includes Harsh Mahajan, Gulam Ali, Shambhu Sharan Patel, Mayankkumar Nayak, Masthan Rao Yadav Beedha, Jebi Mather Hisham, Subhasish Khuntia, Rwngwra Narzary, and Sandosh Kumar P.

The Petitions Committee is one of the oldest committees of Parliament and dates back to the Legislative Assembly of the colonial period.

Its origin can be tracked back to a resolution moved by a member in the then Council of State on September 15, 1921.Till 1964, petitions could be presented to the Rajya Sabha only with regard to the Bills and the matters connected with the business pending before the Upper House of Parliament.

However after 1964, when the Rules of Procedure of the Rajya Sabha were changed and the scope of the Committee was enlarged. As per the revised Rules, petitions could also be presented on any matter of general public interest.

There are certain matters that are outside the purview of this Petitions Committee that includes among others such matters within the cognisance of a court of law, or which are not primarily the concern of the Indian government, which can be raised on a substantive motion or resolution, or for which remedy is available under the law.

It may be recalled that Raghav Chadha had recently switched from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with six other Rajya Sabha MPs.