AAP councillors’ exit may alter fate of standing committee polls | Delhi News – Times of India

New Delhi: The departure of 15 councillors from AAP and their subsequent formation of a new political entity could influence the results of the upcoming ward committee elections across 12 zones, potentially challenging AAP’s previous stronghold positions. It may also affect the results for the pending three out of 18-member standing committee elections.The election of three standing committee members are pending – one from the house and two from ward committees (south and city sadar Paharganj zone). The seat for one of the standing committee members, Gajendra Daral (from the Mundka ward), is vacant as the councillor won the assembly election. The ward committee elections, typically conducted annually, faced delays recently owing to India-Pakistan tensions. The municipal secretary’s office will soon declare new election dates.Currently, BJP holds dominance in seven ward committees while AAP controls five.The seven zones having chairmen from BJP are Shahdara South, Shahdara North, Narela, Najafgarh, Keshavpuram, Civil Lines, and Central. The remaining five zones have chairmen from AAP — City Sadar Paharganj, South, Karol Bagh, West and Rohini. Even when AAP lost the majority prior to mayoral elections and its number of councillors were reduced from 132 in Sept 2024 to 113 in April 2025, it maintained the majority in the five zones and the gap was huge.But now, with the shifting of 15 councillors, this gap is reduced drastically in the South, West and Rohini zones. The outgoing councillors included four from the West zone, three from the South zone, two from Narela, and one from Rohini, Central, and Shahdara South zone each.In the South zone ward committee, there were 23 councillors, including 14 from AAP, 8 from BJP, and one from Congress. After the assembly elections, three seats were vacated — two from BJP and one from AAP.On Saturday, three councillors left AAP and became part of the new party, Indrapratha Vikas Party. The new equation is — AAP 10, BJP 6, Congress 1, and Indrapratha Vikas Party 3. If the new party supports BJP, the difference will be reduced to 10 and 9 between AAP and BJP.In the West zone, there were 25 members — 17 from AAP and 8 from BJP. With the resignation of four councillors from AAP, their number reduced to 13 and if they support BJP, their number will increase to 12. In the Rohini zone, there were 23 members with AAP having 12, BJP 9 and Congress 1. After the resignation of one councillor, now AAP has 11 members. Mukesh Goel of Indrapratha Vikas Party said that the outfit can extend support to the right candidate (instead of a party) besides nominating its own candidates in zones where it has good numbers.Besides ward committee elections, the changes might impact the standing committee members’ elections.