8 AAP MLAs Join BJP Ahead of Delhi Polls

New Delhi- Just four days before the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for February 5, eight Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The MLAs who switched parties include Girish Soni, Bhavna Gaur, Madan Lal, Pawan Sharma, Rajesh Rishi, B.S. Joon, Rohit Mehrolia, and Naresh Yadav, along with former MLA Vijender Garg and Municipal Councillors Ajay Rai and Sunil Chadda. None of these legislators had received tickets from AAP for the upcoming election, which reportedly contributed to their decision to resign.

Among the defectors, Naresh Yadav, the former Mehrauli candidate, had been convicted by a Punjab court in December in a Quran desecration case and sentenced to two years in jail. In his resignation letter, Yadav criticized AAP for abandoning its founding principle of "honest politics" and alleged the party had become "entangled in the swamp of corruption," referencing the Delhi liquor policy case that led to the imprisonment of former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia.

BJP leader Baijayant Jay Panda welcomed the new members, calling it a "historic" day and expressing optimism about BJP's prospects in the upcoming election. The February 5 Delhi Assembly elections for the 70-member house are expected to see a three-way contest between AAP, BJP, and Congress, with results scheduled to be announced on February 8.