New Delhi: In a major blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 15 municipal councillors in Delhi have resigned from the party and launched a new political outfit named Indraprastha Vikas Party.

The newly announced party will be headed by Hemchand Goel, and includes several former AAP leaders like Mukesh Goel, Himani Jain, Devindra Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Ladi, Suman Anil Rana, Dinesh Bhardwaj, Runakshi Sharma, Manisha, Sahib Kumar, Rakhi Yadav, Usha Sharma, and Ashok Pandey, all of whom are expected to play prominent roles in this political shift.

Mukesh Goel’s exit is seen as particularly consequential, as he had served as the Leader of the House for AAP in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

"We have launched Indraprastha Vikas Party because we were not able to do any public work for the past year or two. The House never functions smoothly due to disruptions," Goel was quoted as saying by NDTV.

He added that more councillors may join their newly-formed party.

Goel had contested the Delhi Assembly elections held in February on an AAP ticket but failed to secure a victory.

Although 15 councillors are reported to have exited the party, the released list includes 13 names, as two councillors were absent at the time of the announcement and their names and signatures were not included.

According to the report, the group submitted a joint resignation letter which stated, "All of us Municipal Councilors were elected in the Delhi Municipal Corporation in the year 2022 on the ticket of Aam Aadmi Party, but despite coming to power in the Delhi Municipal Corporation in 2022, the top leadership of the party was unable to run the Delhi Municipal Corporation smoothly."

Highlighting a lack of internal communication, the letter continued, "The coordination between the top leadership and the Municipal Councillors was negligible, due to which the party came into the opposition."

It further stated, "As we were not able to fulfil the promise made to the public, we, the councillors, are resigning from the primary membership of the party."

This mass resignation marks the latest in a series of setbacks for AAP in the MCD.

In February, the BJP became the largest party in the civic body after three AAP councillors — Anita Basoya from Andrews Ganj, Nikhil Chaprana from Hari Nagar, and Dharmveer Singh from RK Puram — crossed over to the BJP.

A similar defection wave had taken place in September last year, just ahead of a key standing committee election, when three AAP councillors switched allegiance to the BJP.

In the wake of these continuous defections, AAP recently withdrew its candidate from the mayoral contest slated for April 25, effectively clearing the path for BJP to assume control of the MCD.