The upcoming Delhi Assembly elections will see around 20 candidates who have switched parties, with the AAP, BJP, and Congress fielding former foes in a bid for political gains. While these candidates aim to prove themselves in their new political homes, they face challenges including apprehension among members of their adopted parties. The article provides details of prominent leaders who switched sides, including those who joined the AAP, BJP, and Congress.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday claimed that the resignation of Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand vindicated its stand that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest was aimed at finishing the party.
Taking note of a plea of an Aam Aadmi Party councillor alleging wrongdoing in the polls, the court issued notices to the Chandigarh authorities, including the civic body.
Several BJP leaders had earlier hinted that the party might go for the mayor's post despite losing the civic polls.
At the Bharatiya Janata Party election rally in Ghonda on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, Narendra Modi startled the gathering when he touched the feet of a candidate not once, but three times.
The BJP has fielded former MP Parvesh Verma from the New Delhi seat against Arvind Kejriwal.
Political parties earlier used to seek vote on the basis of caste and religion, said Kejriwal.
Chief Minister-designate Rekha Gupta and her Council of Ministers will take oath at the Ramlila Maidan on Thursday afternoon in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marking a return of the BJP in Delhi after 26 years.
Rekha Gupta had the support of the RSS, which actively participated in the Delhi assembly poll campaign to help the BJP win.
Rekha Gupta, a former DUSU president and a long-time member of the RSS, has been chosen as the Leader of the House in the Delhi Assembly and will become the fourth woman chief minister of Delhi. She won the Shalimar Bagh seat in the February 5 Assembly polls, defeating her AAP rival Bandana Kumari. Gupta, a BCom graduate and lawyer, has a long history of working for women's welfare, having served as the national secretary of the BJP's youth wing and the national vice-president of BJP Mahila Morcha. The BJP has returned to power in Delhi after over 26 years, ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
Ensuring a free and fair electoral process is imperative for maintaining people's trust in representative democracy, the Supreme Court has said.
The incident came to light on Monday after a Gopal Khari, who stated that he is associated with the AAP as an active worker since 2014, approached the ACB with the complaint, according to an official statement on Wednesday.
The government had sent the proposal to hold the House session on February 16 and Saxena has accepted it, they said.
Debutant legislator Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi chief minister along with six ministers on Thursday in a grand show of strength full of colour and spectacle to mark the Bharatiya Janata Party's return to power in the city after more than 26 years.
The two candidates, current mayor Oberoi and BJP's Rai, had earlier filed their nominations for the Delhi mayoral poll slated to be held on April 26, officials had said.
The Delhi assembly results have underscored that a section of Arvind Kejriwal's committed supporters abandoned him because they were let down by his refusal to take a stand on crucial issues that impinge on the security and Constitutionally enshrined rights of the people, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
First-time MLA Rekha Gupta will be the new chief minister of Delhi, capping 11 days of suspense over who will get the top post after the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power after over 26 years ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
'BJP insiders acknowledge that the party needs to be helmed by someone who can match Arvind Kejriwal's stature.' 'A Sudhanshu Trivedi or Bansuri Swaraj could bring the freshness the party needs in Delhi,' points out Aditi Phadnis.
Meanwhile, many BJP members chanted 'Hanuman Chalisa' for several minutes, awaiting resumption of the House.
Hussain has been booked in the murder case of the IB staffer in northeast Delhi amid violence over the new citizenship law last week.
According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House after the civic polls.
After an apparent truce between AAP and the BJP following the Delhi polls, sparks are flying once again. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said the mayor, also the returning officer, acted beyond her powers and her decision was impermissible as it was "not based on any material relevant to the issue".
New entrant Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as the leading party winning 13 of 35 wards so far as the counting of votes in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls is in progress here on Monday.
Despite the AAP cutting into its votes, the Congress still polled 27 per cent votes and won 17 seats.
Kanhaiya in a statement said the attack was ordered by rival contender from the constituency Manoj Tiwari.
After the alteration of the boundaries, the BJP assessed the wards afresh to see what changes in strategy were needed
If AAP dominates both state and local elections, the move for unification may become the illness for the BJP instead of the medicine it was supposed to have been.
Aiming to breach the Bharatiya Janata Party's Gujarat bastion, the Aam Aadmi Party fielded its candidate to contest all 182 assembly seats and carried out a high decibel campaign in the run-up to the polls in Gujarat.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned for nearly nine hours by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday in the excise policy case, amid protests by his party as the Aam Aadmi Party chief claimed that the allegations of scam were false and the agency was acting at the Bharatiya Janata Party's behest.
If this happens, it will be an "unprecedented development" in the civic body's journey as budget is traditionally passed by a House, they said.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi House was adjourned for the day on Thursday as ruckus and sloganeering continued over the election of six members of the standing committee.
The Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that 80 per cent of its leaders were arrested by Delhi police since Sunday, and questioned whether anyone can be detained for more than 24 hours.
The police can now name them in their supplementary charge sheet, an official said. In a late evening statement, the government said that this is a purely procedural matter, adding that the elected government has no role to play in this.
Former Jawaharlal Nehru University student and activist Umar Khalid has completed four years in jail after being arrested in connection with the 2020 northeast Delhi communal riots.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh, where assembly polls are due by 2023-end, are not attaching much importance to the presence of the AAP and the AIMIM citing the largely bipolar politics of the state.
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi was the last councillor to cast her vote around 2.30 pm.
Hussain, the agency said, has been 'arrested in connection with ongoing PMLA investigation into his role in money laundering and funding of anti-CAA protests and organising riots in north-east Delhi during February, 2020'.
Hussain further said there should be an impartial probe into the incident and action should be taken against the guilty.
