A week after the BJP trounced the AAP in the Assembly polls in the Capital, the party got another major boost in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) with three AAP councillors switching sides on Saturday.
This tilts the balance in the BJP’s favour ahead of the mayoral polls due in April.
The three AAP leaders joined the BJP during a press conference, which was attended by state unit president Virendra Sachdeva; newly-elected MLA Kartar Singh, who had quit the AAP and joined the BJP months before the Assembly polls; RK Puram MLA Anil Sharma; and Media Relations Head Vikram Mittal, among others. The three councillors who switched over to the BJP are Anita Basoya (Andrews Ganj), Nikhil Chaprana (Hari Nagar) and Dharamvir (R K Puram).
Referring to the BJP being in power at the Centre, state as well as municipal level, Sachdeva said, “Delhi will soon witness the formation of a triple-engine government. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country has been progressing rapidly, and now it is Delhi’s turn. The people of Delhi, who have given a majority mandate to the BJP, will soon begin to see the results once the new government is formed.”
The last MCD polls were held in 2022, and the AAP won 134 of 250 wards. The party, however, was never in full control of the House, having fought a long-drawn court battle to not allow the aldermen appointed by the Lt Governor to vote in internal polls. The court ruled in favour of the AAP. But the party saw councillors quitting to join the BJP and it could not get a majority in the Standing Committee, the most crucial body in the MCD responsible for all financial decision-making.
At present, both AAP and BJP have 115 seats in the MCD after several defections over the last two years. Anti-defection laws are not applicable in municipal corporations. This has led to regular defections, leading to a significantly altered composition of the House since the 2022 polls.
