This combo 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) parliamentarians â of which six are from Punjab, the only State where its in power â quitting the party on Friday (April 24, 2026), the partyâs 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, âThe BJPâs lack of political ground has pushed it towards such tacticsâ, 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 partyâs infighting and the crises itâs plagued with, which opposition parties immediately took advantage of following the defection.
Published â April 24, 2026 10:31 pm IST
