BJP capitalises on AAP MLAs’ exodus, wins those eight seats
In Delhi elections, eight ex-AAP MLAs switched to BJP before voting; AAP lost all these seats, ending its decade-long rule as BJP secured 48 of 70 seats.
In the run-up to the Delhi elections, eight sitting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, dropped by the party ahead of the vote, switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just days before voting. When results were declared on Saturday, AAP lost all eight of these seats.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the outcome underscored how corruption had become a key issue in the election.
“The AAP MLAs were very close to Kejriwal and knew how he was no longer the common man that he once claimed to be. The results of the elections showed that the real anti-incumbency was against Arvind Kejriwal but some leaders in AAP conveniently blamed the anti-incumbency on the MLAs and dropped several MLAs,” said Kapoor.
The AAP had dropped nearly a third of its sitting legislators since late 2024, citing internal feedback that they were unpopular.
On January 31, eight of those MLAs resigned from AAP, accusing the party of corruption. They later joined the BJP: Vandana Gaur (Palam), Rohit Mehraulia (Trilokpuri), Girish Soni (Madipur), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), B S Joon (Bijwasan), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), and Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar).
All the eight seats went to BJP candidates: Raj Kumar Bhatia (Adarsh Nagar), Ravi Kant (Trilokpuri), Kailash Gangwal (Madipur), Neeraj Basoya (Kasturba Nagar), Ashish Sood (Janakpuri), Kailash Gahlot (Bijwasan), and Gejendra Singh Yadav (Mehrauli). Gahlot, a former AAP minister, was among those who defected to the BJP just weeks before polls.
The BJP secured 48 seats in the 70-member assembly, ending AAP’s decade-long rule and returning to power in Delhi after 27 years. AAP, which won 62 seats in 2020, was reduced to 22.