7 AAP MLAs resign ahead of Delhi Assembly polls

Less than a week before the Delhi Assembly elections, seven Aam Aadmi Party MLAs resigned from the primary membership of the party on Friday.

They are Rohit Kumar Mehraulia, the outgoing MLA from Trilokpuri, Rajesh Rishi, who represents the Janakpuri constituency, Kasturba Nagar MLA Madan Lal, Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav, Bijwasan MLA Bhupinder Singh Joon, Palam MLA Bhavna Gaur and Adarsh Nagar MLA Pawan Sharma.

The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled for February 5, with votes to be counted on February 8.

Apart from Naresh Yadav, none of the other legislators who resigned were given a ticket by the Aam Aadmi Party to fight the upcoming polls.

On December 20, the party replaced Yadav with Mahender Chaudhary as its Mehrauli candidate. This came after Yadav was convicted in a Quran desecration case.

The case dates back to June 24, 2016, when torn pages of the Quran were found in Punjab’s Malerkotla. The incident had triggered unrest and violence in the town.

In his letter to Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, Yadav on Friday alleged that “corruption has infiltrated” the party.

Mehraulia, on his part, said that he had joined the Aam Aadmi Party during a movement against corruption led by social activist Anna Hazare so that he could secure social justice for the Dalit and Valmiki communities.

The party had promised to uplift these communities, Mehraulia said in...

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