Clouds now hang over AAP's future in Capital's civic body

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.

- Paras Singh

NEW DELHI:

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.