New Delhi, 31 January 2025: In a major setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, seven sitting MLAs resigned from the party, citing disillusionment with its leadership and growing allegations of corruption.
The legislators—Bhawna Gaur (Palam), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Rohit Mehrauliya (Trilokpuri), Bhupinder Singh Joon (Bijwasan), and Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar)—were denied tickets for the upcoming polls. In their resignation letters, most stated they had “lost faith” in the party.
Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav, sentenced to two years in prison in December 2024 for his role in the 2016 Quran desecration case in Punjab’s Malerkotla, was among those who quit. His resignation letter accused AAP of betraying its founding principles.
“I joined the Aam Aadmi Party for honesty. But today, I can’t see that honesty anywhere,” Yadav wrote, adding that constituents in Mehrauli believed the party was “completely embroiled in corruption.”
Following his conviction, Yadav had posted on X on December 20 that he had urged AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal not to nominate him for the Assembly polls.
“I will not contest elections until I am honorably acquitted. I am completely innocent, and the allegations against me are politically motivated and false. That is why I have requested them to free me from contesting,” he stated.
Bijwasan MLA Bhupinder Singh Joon, another dissident, stated that AAP had strayed far from its original vision of transparency and ethical governance.
“AAP was envisioned as a transparent, people-centric organization committed to eradicating corruption and fostering ethical governance. However, over time, the party has increasingly exhibited traits of centralization and a lack of internal democracy,” Joon stated.
He further criticized AAP’s choice of candidates, pointing to the party’s decision to field a nominee from Bijwasan AC-36 with multiple criminal cases, including charges of moral turpitude.
“AAP once stood firmly against giving tickets to individuals with criminal backgrounds, but that principle has been abandoned,” he stated.
The resignations, coming less than a week before the elections, have intensified scrutiny on AAP’s internal divisions and its handling of candidate selection amid corruption allegations.
