In a big blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) right before internal elections are expected to be held in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), five of its councillors joined the BJP Sunday.
Unlike MPs and MLAs, municipal councillors are not subject to the anti-defection law, meaning the five who switched parties will remain elected representatives.
The development comes at a time when the Mayor has asked officials to prepare for internal elections for the crucial and much-delayed ward committees and the civic body’s powerful 18-member Standing Committee.
After the Supreme Court’s August 5 ruling, which held that the Lt Governor has full authority to nominate aldermen without holding consultations with the elected government, the move by the five councillors, who represent the zones where BJP was weak, will have strategic implications for the AAP during the internal MCD polls.
The five councillors include Ram Chander (Sahibabad Dairy ward); Pawan Kumar (Bawana ward); Manju Devi (Badarpur ward); Sungandha (Tughlakabad ward) and Mamta (Harkesh Nagar ward). Of these, two councillors are from the Narela Zone, while the rest are from the Central Zone.
The nomination of aldermen has been a contentious issue, with the AAP viewing it as an attempt by the BJP to maintain influence over MCD despite losing the elections in 2022. After L-G V K Saxena nominated 10 aldermen during the 2022 MCD elections, all with affiliations to the BJP, the AAP had challenged the move in the Supreme Court, arguing that the L-G should not nominate aldermen without consulting the Delhi government.
The aldermen also have voting rights during the elections of the ward committees.
The SC ruling has helped in streamlining the process for forming the ward and standing committees, which had been stalled for the past year 18-months due to the political deadlock between the two parties. A month after the top court’s judgement, Mayor Shelly Oberoi had directed the Municipal Secretary, Shiva Prasad, to start the process for the elections of the ward committees.
“After the joining, BJP is in majority in seven wards of MCD. In all probability we now get a majority in Standing Committee elections if AAP allows the election to take place,” the BJP said in a statement.
AAP, in a statement, said, “The people of Delhi will deliver a resounding response. The AAP stands firm as a party of unwavering honesty and patriotism, ready to face jail rather than bow down to the BJP. We follow the path of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh—we won’t be intimidated by the BJP’s poaching tactics. No matter how many dirty tricks the BJP adopts, their security deposits will be forfeited in the elections. In the last election, they tried to disturb harmony but failed.”
BJP, meanwhile, welcomed the new councillors by presenting them with party scarves and claimed that the five AAP councillors dejected due to “corruption” and the “incompetence” of the AAP.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said that the councillors have joined due to the vision of PM Narendra Modi and because they believe that with BJP’s help they can improve the civic amenities in their wards.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the country is continuously moving forward on the path of development, and we are continuously setting new records… we have all seen over the past 10 years how the corruption-ridden AAP government has been working to halt development projects in Delhi. Today, those who have decided to join the BJP will work together with us to serve the public,” he said.