7 sulking Delhi MLAs quit AAP ahead of polls, two say 'faith lost in Arvind Kejriwal'

AAP MLAs Bhawna Gaur and Madan Lal addressed Arvind Kejriwal in their resignation letters and said that they lost faith in him and the party.

In Short

• MLAs Bhawna Gaur, Madan Lal cite loss of faith in Arvind Kejriwal, AAP
• Trilokpuri, Janakpuri, Kasturba Nagar, Mehrauli MLAs also quit
• 6 MLAs were disgruntled after being denied tickets for 2025 polls

Seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs resigned from the primary membership of the party on Friday, just five days ahead of the high-octane Delhi Assembly elections. Notably, six of the seven outgoing legislators were denied tickets to contest the upcoming polls and were reportedly disgruntled with the party's decision.

Palam MLA Bhawna Gaur, in a letter to AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, said that she was quiting as she had lost faith in both him and the party. Similarly, Madan Lal, the legislator from Kasturba Nagar, expressed the same sentiments.

"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," Bhawna Gaur and Madan Lal wrote in two separate letters.

Trilokpuri MLA Rohit Mehraulia, Janakpuri MLA Rajesh Rishi, Kasturba Nagar MLA Madan Lal, and Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav also resigned from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Pawan Sharma from Adarsh Nagar and BS Joon from Bijwasan were the other two AAP legislators who left Arvind Kejriwal's party.

However, Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav was initially given a ticket, but he returned it after the allegations in the Punjab Quran sacrilege case against him were proved. Following that, the party replaced him with Mahender Chaudhary. Naresh Yadav eventually resigned on Friday.

AAP candidate list for Delhi elections includes Mukesh Goel from Adarsh Nagar, Pravin Kumar from Janakpuri, Surendra Bhardwaj from Bijiwasan, Joginder Solanki from Palam, Ramesh Pehlwan from Kasturba Nagar, and Anjana Parcha from Trilokpuri.

The AAP has named candidates for all the 70 Assembly seats of Delhi, which will go to polls on February 5. The counting of votes will be held on February 8.

Arvind Kejriwal's party is eyeing a third consecutive five-year term in Delhi and faces a stiff challenge from the BJP, who has been out of power in the capital for the last 27 years. The Congress is the third major party in contention.