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Three councillors from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) switched sides to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday (September 25), reducing the ruling party’s majority in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House, several media outlets reported. This shift came just a day before the election to fill the vacant seat on the influential Standing Committee.
This marks the second time in a month that AAP councillors have defected. On August 25, five AAP members joined the BJP, though one later returned to AAP.
With these latest defections, AAP's presence in the 250-member MCD House has dropped to 125, leaving it short of the majority at 126. Meanwhile, the BJP has 113 councillors, further narrowing the gap between the two parties.
The councillors who crossed over to the BJP are Preeti from Dilshad Colony, Sarita Phogat from Green Park, and Praveen Kumar from Madanpur Khadar East.
AAP has accused the BJP of engaging in “dirty politics”, claiming the opposition party continually obstructs the city’s progress.
In response, BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor argued that AAP no longer has the moral authority to govern in the MCD following the reduction in its numbers.
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Concerns about cross-voting
The Hindu reported several former MCD officials as saying that as long as AAP holds the Mayor’s position, maintaining a majority in the House is less critical. A former MCD Commissioner noted that the anti-defection law does not apply in the MCD, making cross-voting a frequent occurrence.
However, AAP may need the backing of Congress’s nine members to secure a win in the upcoming Standing Committee election, where cross-voting could jeopardise the party’s control over the important decision-making body, which handles projects exceeding Rs 5 crore in value.
Various Congress insiders have indicated that the party might abstain from voting, the national-daily said. Currently, the 17-member Standing Committee consists of nine BJP members and eight from AAP.
The upcoming election is necessary to fill the seat left vacant by BJP member Kamaljeet Sehrawat, who was elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.
Allegations of coercion
Meanwhile, AAP’s Malviya Nagar MLA, Somnath Bharti, said Sarita Phogat was “forced to leave the party”.
In a social media post, he expressed concern for Phogat, who he says has been consistently supportive of him and has shown no prior dissatisfaction. He also noted that she is suffering from a brain tumour, has been unwell throughout her tenure, and recently lost her husband. Bharti accused the BJP of pressuring her into switching parties, alleging that she had been abducted and calling on the Lieutenant-Governor and Delhi Police to locate her.
MCD election on September 26
On Thursday, the MCD is undergoing a significant election to determine control of its Standing Committee, a pivotal body responsible for major decisions within the civic administration. The election is set to fill the single vacancy in the 18-member Committee, which was left by Kamaljeet Sehrawat’s resignation following her election to the Lok Sabha.
What does the current MCD house look like?
In the 250-member MCD House, AAP holds 125 seats, while the BJP has 115, Congress has nine, and there is one independent councillor. As for the Standing Committee, the BJP secured seven seats in recent ward committee elections, while AAP holds five, leaving the current composition at nine seats for the BJP and eight for AAP, a balance that includes results carried forward from last year’s Standing Committee election.
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