This composite image shows Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs, clockwise from top left, Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Swati Maliwal, Harbhajan Singh, Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Rajinder Gupta. In a massive jolt to AAP, seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including Chadha, Pathak and Mittal, quit the party on Friday (April 24, 2026). | Photo credit: PTI
With seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs – six of whom are from Punjab, the only state where it is in power – to quit the party on Friday (April 24, 2026), the party’s path to the 2027 state assembly elections, which are barely months away, could get significantly steeper.
Even as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying, “BJP’s lack of political base has led it to such tactics”, the defection reveals the health of the party from within. In the run-up to elections, the party would ideally want to project unity and strength, but the defections in AAP exposed the party’s infighting and crises, which the opposition parties immediately took advantage of following the defections.
Published – 24 Apr 2026 22:31 IST
