(Image source from: Twitter.com/AamAadmiParty)

Seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators have quit just five days before the Delhi election voting. None of them were selected to run for office again. The legislators 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 legislator to resign. Palam's Bhavna Goud expressed disappointment with party leader Arvind Kejriwal in her resignation letter, saying "I have lost faith in you." Naresh Yadav, the former Mehrauli candidate, was convicted by a Punjab court in a Quran desecration case in December and sentenced to two years in jail. When the AAP announced its fifth list of candidates for the Delhi election, the party named Mahender Chaudhary as its Mehrauli candidate, replacing Naresh Yadav. Naresh Yadav stated in his resignation letter that the AAP had abandoned its founding principle of "honest politics."

Manish Sisodia, who represented the Mehrauli constituency in south Delhi for 10 years, was jailed for several months. Rohit Kumar Mehraulia, the Trilokpuri MLA who resigned today, said he joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement, hoping to secure social justice for the Dalit and Valmiki communities. However, Mehraulia claimed the AAP failed to address crucial issues such as ending contract-based labor and ensuring temporary workers are hired permanently. Janakpuri's Rajesh Rishi also expressed growing disillusionment with what he described as the AAP's departure from its core values. In his resignation letter, Rishi criticized the AAP for betraying the principles of corruption-free governance and transparency it was founded on. Rishi, another former supporter of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement, alleged the party has become a "cesspit of nepotism and corruption." The vote counting is scheduled for February 8.