Under the statutory provisions of Section 4(1) of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, what is the minimum number of members required to sign the application form and subscribe their names to the rules of a trade union to apply for its registration?

According to Section 4(1) of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, any seven or more members of a trade union may, by subscribing their names to the rules of the trade union and by otherwise complying with the provisions of the Act with respect to registration, apply for registration of the trade union. (Note: The 2001 amendment further added a proviso requiring that at least 10% or 100 workers, whichever is less, engaged or employed in the establishment/industry must be members of the trade union on the date of application, but the minimum threshold of applicants to sign for registration remains 7 members).