Delhi mayoral poll: BJP set to get walkover as AAP withdraws from contest

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to get a walkover in the April 25 mayoral election as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday announced that it will not contest as it has lost the majority in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) after a series of defections. Monday is the last day for filing nominations.

AAP’s Delhi chief, Saurabh Bharadwaj, blamed inducements, threats, and “every possible tactic” for AAP defections to the BJP. “We have decided that AAP will not contest the mayoral election. The BJP can have its own mayor and standing committee. Now, without making excuses, the BJP should deliver on its promises through its triple-engine government,” he said, referring to the BJP’s governments also at the Centre and in Delhi.

BJP’s Delhi spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that the AAP knows it has lost the majority, and it has also stopped the MCD’s administrative and maintenance work over the last two and a half years. “So now AAP is pretending to renounce...it is possible that from here onwards AAP and Congress form an alliance,” he said.

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva announced Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh would be the party’s mayoral candidate and Jai Bhagwan Yadav deputy mayoral candidate.

AAP leader and former chief minister Atishi said that the BJP attempts to make governments through the backdoor. “In Delhi, the BJP was anticipating defeat. In 2022, a law was brought in the Parliament to unify the MCD, which delayed the elections. Then the delimitation was carried out to favour the BJP. The MCD election was held along with the Gujarat assembly polls... the BJP still lost the [MCD] election.”

Atishi said AAP councillors were forced to defect to the BJP. “The BJP now has the majority in the MCD. We will not contest the election as we do not believe in such horse-trading. The BJP should form the MCD government and show people how its triple-engine government can deliver.”

In 2022, AAP won the civic body polls with 134 seats. The BJP bagged 104 seats. The AAP candidate won by just three votes amid cross-voting in the November 2024 mayoral election. A series of defections over the last six months gave the BJP an upper hand.

In the MCD electoral college of 274 members, the BJP now has the support of 135 and AAP 119. Twelve seats are vacant as councillors were elected as assembly and parliament members.

The electoral college includes 250 councillors, seven Delhi Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha members, and the assembly speaker-nominated 14 House members. Ten aldermen do not have voting powers.