Blow to Arvind Kejriwal: 3 AAP councillors join BJP ahead of MCD mayoral election

In a blow to Aam Aadmi Party  supremo Arvind Kejriwal, three AAP councillors have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday.

The development comes ahead of the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) mayoral election.

The mayoral election is scheduled to be held in April.

The three councillors are Anita Basoya (Andrews Ganj), Nikhil Chaprana (Hari Nagar) and Dharamvir (RK Puram).

‘Triple engine’ government

Welcoming the councilors, city BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that Delhi will have a "triple engine" government -- at the Centre, assembly and municipal level -- at the right time to develop it as the capital of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision under a 'Viksit Bharat".

The councilors joined the BJP to make Delhi a clean and beautiful city, added Sachdeva.

With the joining of the three AAP councilors, the BJP’s tally is now higher than that of the AAP.

In the wake of its recent resounding victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, the BJP is eyeing a "triple-engine government" in Delhi by securing the post of mayor. The saffron party won 48 of the 70 Assembly seats, ousting the AAP from power after a decade.

Last mayoral election, held in November 2024, was won by the AAP by three votes.

Besides the councilors, the seven Lok Sabha MPs (all of BJP), three Rajya Sabha MPs (all of AAP) and 14 nominated MLAs in Delhi are voters in the polls for mayor and deputy mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

The BJP is also going to have 10 of its MLAs nominated to the MCD, while the AAP will have four nominations for the civic body, said BJP leaders, ACCORDING to a report.

In the February 5 Assembly polls, eight BJP councilors and three AAP councillors got elected to the assembly.

In the 2022 MCD polls, the AAP had won 134 wards, the BJP 104, the Congress nine and Independents three.