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Seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs have resigned just five days before voting in the Delhi election. None of them got tickets to contest the election again.
The MLAs who resigned are Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Rohit Kumar (Trilokpuri), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar), and Bhawna Goud (Palam). BS Joon (Bijwasan) was the first AAP MLA who gave his papers.
Palam's Bhavna Goud in her resignation letter directed her disappointment at party chief Arvind Kejriwal. "I have lost faith in you," the MLA said.
Naresh Yadav was earlier the Mehrauli candidate. He was convicted by a Punjab court in a Quran desecration case in December and sentenced to two-year jail. When the AAP released its fifth list of candidates for the Delhi election, to be held on February 5, the party announced Mahender Chaudhary as its Mehrauli candidate, replacing Naresh Yadav.
Naresh Yadav in his resignation letter said the AAP abandoned its founding principle of "honest politics." He alleged the party, instead of fulfilling its pledge to reduce corruption, had "become entangled in the swamp of corruption itself", alluding to the Delhi liquor policy case in which former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia were jailed for several months. He represented south Delhi's Mehrauli constituency for 10 years.
Rohit Kumar Mehraulia, the Trilokpuri MLA who resigned today, in a post on X said he joined AAP during the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption, with the hope of securing social justice for the Dalit and Valmiki communities.
Mr Mehraulia said the AAP promised to uplift these communities, but failed to address crucial issues such as scrapping contract-based labour and ensuring temporary workers are absorbed permanently.
Janakpuri's Rajesh Rishi also cited growing disenchantment with what he called the AAP's departure from its core values.
In his resignation letter, he criticised the AAP for betraying the principles of corruption-free governance and transparency it was founded on. Mr Rishi, another former supporter of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement, alleged the party has become a "cesspit of nepotism and corruption."
Counting of votes is on February 8.