First exit from AAP after candidates announced, party looks at new roles for dropped MLAs
Polling more than 72,000 votes against the BJP candidate’s over 35,000, Rehman had swept Seelampur by a margin of over 36,920 votes in the 2020 Delhi elections.
(To extreme left) Abdul Rahman with now Delhi CM Atishi (Instagram/abdulrehmann19)
More than a month after he stepped down as chief of its minority wing, AAP Seelampur MLA Abdul Rehman Tuesday was the first sitting MLA to quit after being replaced. He has switched to the Congress on the heels of the Assembly elections.
Rehman, who announced his decision to step down following the induction of five-time former Congress MLA Chaudhry Mateen Ahmad’s son, Zubair, into the AAP in October, was dropped as the party’s pick from the Muslim majority constituency on November 21. The party replaced him with Zubair.
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Polling more than 72,000 votes against the BJP candidate’s over 35,000, Rehman had swept Seelampur by a margin of over 36,920 votes in the 2020 Delhi elections. Cut to the next successive election, he is among 16 sitting AAP MLAs out of 62 to have been dropped in two lists — consisting of 31 picks out of 70 Assembly constituencies in the capital — and is unlikely to be the last one to be replaced.
According to AAP insiders, the party has a plan for others like him: counting on their loyalty going forward, AAP legislators from Delhi who have been, or will be, dropped in days to come, are going to be “accommodated in the party’s expanding national organisational structure”.
“In the immediate aftermath of their tickets being cut, the party will utilise MLAs in its organisation in the city for the upcoming Delhi elections; going forward, these leaders, especially those who are in charge of other states, will be sent there to help expand the AAP’s national footprint,” a party insider said.
In the two lists it has released so far, the AAP dropped its Matiala MLA Gulab Singh and then its Timarpur legislator Dilip Pandey — both of whom have discharged organisational duties both in and beyond the city.
While Singh was both state in-charge and then election campaign in-charge for the AAP in Gujarat for the 2022 polls, Pandey was the party’s Delhi Convener, then in-charge for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in addition to being part of the party’s organisational activities in Uttar Pradesh.
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“Leaders like Gulab (Singh) and Dilip (Pandey) are hardcore AAP leaders and not opportunists; just like them, there are others who have the AAP at the core of their being. All such leaders will be given the responsibility of extending the organisation of the youngest national party across the country,” the insider said.
Jatin Anand is an Assistant Editor with the national political bureau of The Indian Express. With over 16 years of experience in mainstream journalism, he is a seasoned expert in national governance, electoral politics, and bureaucratic affairs. Having covered high-stakes beats including the Election Commission of India (ECI), intelligence, and urban development, Jatin provides authoritative analysis of the forces shaping Indian democracy. He is an alumnus of Zakir Husain Delhi College (DU) and the prestigious Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, where he specialized in Print Journalism.
Expertise
High-Stakes Beat Coverage: Throughout his decade-and-a-half career, Jatin has covered some of the most sensitive and influential beats in the country, including:
The Election Commission of India (ECI): Monitoring electoral policy, reforms, and the conduct of national and state polls.
National Security & Intelligence: Reporting on the internal mechanisms and developments within India's security apparatus.
Urban Development: Analyzing the policies and bureaucratic processes driving the transformation of India’s cities.
National Political Bureau: In his current role, he tracks the intersection of policy and politics, offering deep-dive reporting on the Union government and national political movements.
Academic Credentials:
Zakir Husain Delhi College (DU): Alumnus of one of Delhi's premier institutions.
Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai: Specialized in Print Journalism at India's most prestigious journalism school. ... Read More
