Eight Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, including Vandana Gaur (Palam), Rohit Mehraulia (Trilokpuri), Girish Soni (Madipur), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Rajesh Rishi (Uttam Nagar), BS Joon (Bijwasan), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), and Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar), resigned from the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday. This development comes just days ahead of the Delhi elections, significantly shaking up the political landscape in the capital.
Notably, seven of the eight defecting MLAs had been denied tickets to contest the upcoming elections, which reportedly led to their dissatisfaction with AAP’s leadership. However, Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav was initially given a ticket but later returned it after being implicated in the Punjab Quran sacrilege case. Following this, AAP replaced him with Mahender Chaudhary, and Yadav subsequently resigned from the party.
The outgoing AAP legislators have also submitted their resignations to the Delhi Assembly Speaker, officially relinquishing their membership in the House. Their induction into the BJP was overseen by the party’s national vice-president, Baijayant Panda, and Delhi unit chief, Virendra Sachdeva. Speaking at the event, Panda called it a "historic day" and took a swipe at AAP, saying the defectors had freed themselves from "AAPda" (disaster). He expressed confidence that after the February 5 elections, Delhi too would be rid of AAP’s rule.
Among those resigning, Palam MLA Bhawna Gaur wrote to AAP’s national convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, stating that she had lost faith in both him and the party, which prompted her decision to quit. Kasturba Nagar MLA Madan Lal echoed the same sentiment in his resignation letter, stating, "I hereby resign from the primary membership of Aam Aadmi Party as I have lost faith in you and the party. Please accept the same."
Following these departures, AAP announced its candidate list for the upcoming elections. The list includes Mukesh Goel from Adarsh Nagar, Pravin Kumar from Janakpuri, Surendra Bhardwaj from Bijwasan, Joginder Solanki from Palam, Ramesh Pehlwan from Kasturba Nagar, and Anjana Parcha from Trilokpuri.
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP, which is seeking a third consecutive five-year term in Delhi, now faces a significant challenge from the BJP, which has been out of power in the capital for 27 years. The Congress remains a third contender in the elections, though its influence has waned over the years. The results of this high-stakes battle will be revealed on February 8, when the votes are counted.
