AAP pushes civic budget but BJP says numbers on its side

In the final budget before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) goes to polls in April, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to table the document in a session marred by continuous ruckus and violence even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared to have higher numbers in a house hit by defections over the past few months.

- Paras Singh

Though the two parties contested the proposed changes for the allocation of ₹17,002.6 crore in the 2025-26 fiscal, the leader of the house could not read the budget speech. After fending off multiple attempts from the Opposition to snatch the budget documents, leader of the house Mukesh Goyal requested the house to consider the budget tabled.

The AAP also claimed that one of its councillors was injured in the ruckus at Civic Centre.

The confrontations were due to the AAP and the BJP both claiming to be the majority party. To be sure, the AAP has already been reduced to a minority due to a series of defections to the BJP on February 15, a week after the latter's resounding win in the Delhi assembly elections.

This has bolstered the BJP's numbers to 116 councillors, with the AAP at 114 and Congress with eight in the run-up to civic polls.