Clouds now hang over AAP’s future in Delhi’s civic body

AAP faces uncertainty in MCD after councillor defections, risking mayoral majority ahead of elections in April. BJP's influence grows.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which suffered a drubbing in the Delhi assembly elections, now faces uncertainty in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), as a series of defections by its councillors has left the party hanging on to its majority by a razor-thin margin.

Delhi civic centre. (HT Archive)

The reduced majority assumes importance in the run-up to the mayoral elections: the tenure of the incumbent — Mahesh Kumar from the AAP — will end in March, and the next polls are expected to be held in April.

A senior MCD official, on condition of anonymity, said that the AAP’s hold over the corporation remains tenuous at best.

“The margin between the BJP and AAP has become much narrower since the AAP won the 2022 civic body polls with 134 councillors, against the BJP’s 104. The mayoral election on November 14, 2024 saw the AAP candidate winning by just three votes as cross-voting occurred. With numerous crossovers, the BJP now seems to have an upper hand,” the official stated.

The electoral college for the mayoral elections comprises 274 members — the 250 elected councillors, the Capital’s 10 MPs (seven Lok Sabha, three Rajya Sabha) and 14 MLAs nominated by the MCD speaker in the ratio of party’s strength in assembly.

At the time of the November 2024 mayoral elections, the AAP had 142 members (including MLAs and MPs), the BJP 122, the Congress had eight, while one was independent. The final tally showed that the BJP candidate received eight additional votes.

It must be noted that anti-defection laws do not apply in municipal corporation polls.

Every year, the Delhi assembly Speaker nominates 14 members of legislative assembly of Delhi to be represented in Municipal Corporation as per provision of section 3(3)(b) of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 for one financial year. Based on party strength, the AAP in November 2024 had 13 such nominated members sent to corporation against the one member allocated to BJP. A second municipal official said that with 48 members, BJP may get 12 out these 14 members.

In addition, 11 councillors contested and won the Delhi assembly polls. They must resign from MCD before taking oath as MLAs, which will trigger bypolls to these wards.

A third MCD official said that councillors cannot hold dual posts, and they will have to submit their resignations in coming days before taking oaths as MLAs. “After the resignations, we will write to state election commission that these seats have fallen vacant so that bypolls can be held. Dwarka ward seat is also vacant as councilor Kamaljeet Sehrawat was elected as West Delhi MP,” the official said.

However, a BJP leader said that the party may not be favour of holding bypolls immediately.

“The AAP losing hold on MCD seems to be just a matter of time,” the leader said.

To be sure, eight of these 11 councillors are with the BJP, but given that currently, there is a strong BJP wave in the Capital, the AAP is unlikely to win back any of the BJP wards.

Defections ahead of assembly polls

In the one month leading up to the Delhi assembly polls, at least six AAP councillors had defected to the BJP: Sunil Chadha from Chaukhandi Nagar ward on February 1, Arti Chawla from Rajinder Nagar on Jan 30, Bhajanpur councillor Rekha Rani and Khyala councillor Shilpa Kaur on January 21; and Ravinder Solanki (Baprola) and Narendra Girsa (Manglapuri) on January 17. Congress councillor Sabila Begum had also joined AAP.

A senior BJP leader said that the strength of the AAP in the house had gone down against the opposition numbers before Delhi polls, but now that a large number of BJP councillors have been elected as MLAs, the equation will once again change. “Out of 14 MLAs nominated to assembly by speaker, we will get 12 members. We are in comfortable position to dislodge AAP from the post of mayor. AAP will out of picture by April,” the leader added.

A fourth MCD official stated that before the assembly polls, AAP had a slight edge over the BJP with 122 councillors against the BJP’s 120 and Congress’s seven, but the number will drastically change in coming days due to cross overs, elevations as MLAs and defections.