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.
The seven Rajya Sabha MPs to quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and who once formed the party's public and organisational face included Sandeep Pathak, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney besides Chadha.
Addressing a joint press conference, Chadha said nearly two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha MPs had quit the party and would join the BJP as a separate faction. He said several Rajya Sabha MPs, including disgruntled party leader Maliwal and Harbhajan Singh, had also left AAP.
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.