Raghav Chadha's exit: After Delhi, AAP stares at a big assembly test in Punjab, Goa and Gujarat

Arvind Kejriwal faces one of the gravest crises in the Aam Aadmi Party’s history as a massive internal revolt erupts just ahead of crucial Assembly elections in Punjab, Gujarat, and Goa. In the political shake-up, seven Rajya Sabha MPs, including leaders like Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, and Swati Maliwal, walked out of the party on Friday, delivering a severe blow to its strength in Parliament.

The exodus has not only dented AAP’s numbers but also cast a shadow over its electoral readiness, leaving the party scrambling to regroup as it heads into high-stakes polls.

The development comes against the backdrop of a turbulent phase for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the last two years, when several of its top leaders, including former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, were arrested in connection with the alleged excise-policy scam, leaving the party grappling with a leadership vacuum and testing its ability to function under pressure.


Also read: Hum AAP ke hain kaun! Why everyone leaves Arvind Kejriwal


During that period, the party had sought to project resilience, with second-rung leaders, including Chadha, stepping in to keep both the government and organisation running.

Big assembly test

Many among the seven MPs were seen as key pillars in shaping the AAP's outreach -- whether in policy articulation, organisational strategy, finances or public messaging -- making their collective departure more than a routine political shift and more of an organisational rupture.

Their move, meeting the two-thirds threshold under the anti-defection law, showcases both the scale and the severity of the split.

Also read: Raghav Chadha, 2 other AAP MPs formally join BJP after exiting Kejriwal's bloc

Chadha said on Friday that all seven MPs have merged with the BJP, asserting that the AAP has strayed from its principles, values and core morals. Besides Chadha, Pathak, Mittal, Singh and Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sawhney have also quit the Kejriwal-led party.

For the AAP, the timing of the seven MPs' exit is particularly crucial. The party is gearing up for next year's electoral battles in Gujarat, Goa and Punjab, where it hopes to consolidate and expand its presence beyond Delhi, where it has formed the government thrice and enjoys a strong base.

AAP leaders have sought to project confidence, maintaining that the party's grassroots connect and governance plank remain intact despite the departures.

On the ground, the party continues to hold power in Punjab and retains a presence in Delhi, along with a limited reach in Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.

In Parliament, however, its reduced strength in the Rajya Sabha -- down from 13 to six now -- could limit its ability to assert itself in legislative debates.

For a party that built its identity on the anti-corruption plank, a collective leadership and a steady stream of new faces rising through the ranks, the current departure revives an old pattern of prominent colleagues parting ways, including former IPS officer Kiran Bedi and poet Kumar Vishwas.

In 2015, former AAP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi quit the party and later, joined the BJP, followed by senior leader Kapil Mishra in 2017 after a bitter public fallout over allegations of corruption within the party. In 2018, founding member Ashish Khetan stepped away from active politics altogether, citing personal reasons. Each of these departures came at a time when the AAP was attempting to stabilise or expand.

With the Gujarat, Goa and Punjab polls on the horizon, the immediate challenge before the Kejriwal-led party is to steady its organisation, rebuild its leadership bench and reassure workers that the political project it launched more than 10 years ago remains intact.

For the AAP, after weathering the arrests of its top leaders and with the exit of influential parliamentarians now, the current situation may well determine whether it can sustain its expansion ambitions or will be forced to consolidate around its existing strongholds.

Another test after Delhi polls

Barely a year after losing power to the BJP in Delhi, AAP suffered its greatest jolt on Friday with seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs including Raghav Chadha quitting the party.

Chadha, who joined AAP at its inception in 2012, was among the party's founding members and helped draft the Delhi Lokpal Bill the same year. A chartered accountant by profession, he later emerged as the party's television face and became its youngest national spokesperson.

Maliwal was elected to the Rajya Sabha from AAP in 2024. Before that, she served as the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women.

She became critical of the party in May 2024 after alleging that she was assaulted at the residence of then Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Sandeep Pathak, one of the MPs who quit AAP, said his academic journey began at Cambridge University before he moved to the University of Oxford and later the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He returned to India and became a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

Pathak joined AAP in 2022 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha the same year. He was also appointed the party's in-charge for Gujarat and co-in-charge for Punjab.

Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh joined AAP in 2022 before entering the Rajya Sabha. He is also known for his work as a sports commentator and actor.

Ashok Mittal, founder and chancellor of Lovely Professional University, also joined AAP in 2022 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha. In 2024, he was chosen as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.

Rajinder Gupta, a businessman and industrialist, became a Rajya Sabha MP from AAP in 2025. He was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to trade and industry.

Vikram Sahney, also a Padma Shri awardee, joined the party in 2022. He had earlier received the International Peace Award from the President of Mauritius.

AAP lost the Delhi assembly elections held on February 5, 2025. While the BJP won 48 out of 70 seats, AAP was victorious on 22 seats. The BJP returned to power in the national capital after 26 years.