With seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) parliamentarians — of which six are from Punjab, the only State where its in power — quitting the party on Friday (April 24, 2026), the party’s road to the 2027 State Assembly elections, barely a few months away, could become significantly steeper.
Even as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying, “The BJP’s lack of political ground has pushed it towards such tactics”, the defection reveals about the health of the party from within. In the run up to the Assembly polls, a party would ideally want to project unity and strength, but the defection in AAP has exposed the party’s infighting and the crises it’s plagued with, which opposition parties immediately took advantage of following the defection.
AAP defections will help BJP gain momentum in Punjab, says Ashwani Kumar
Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha, along with Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal joined the BJP on Friday (April 24). Mr. Chadha, addressing a press conference, announced that the 2/3rd members belonging to the AAP in the Rajya Sabha were merging themselves with the BJP. The other MPs, including Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikram Sahney and Swati Maliwal, have also decided to join the BJP, he said.
