Chandigarh: Congress has emerged as the primary beneficiary of municipal defections in Chandigarh, gaining five of the eight councillors who left the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during the current term. This shift has elevated Congress to 10 seats in the municipal corporation (MC) and reduced AAP to seven, leaving the BJP as the single largest party.The moves follow the 2024 parliamentary election, where a joint Congress-AAP alliance secured victory in the Chandigarh seat. Despite that national partnership, local rivalries have reshaped the civic body. Many of the defecting councillors were original Congress office-bearers and local functionaries who switched to AAP before the Dec 2021 elections, won tickets, and have now returned to their original party.Both parties have faced regular defections since the current civic body was formed in 2022. However, Congress recovered its numbers over the past four and a half years, while AAP’s numerical strength continued to drop.AAP has begun internal strategy meetings to prepare for the upcoming civic polls scheduled for December. Party leaders expect clearer campaign strategies to emerge following the official draw of lots for municipal wards on Friday.AAP Chandigarh president Vijaypal Singh criticised the moves while addressing the departures.“We fully supported Congress in the parliamentary election, but it is before everybody that what they are paying back to us now. The councillor who quit AAP and joined Congress had some personal demands, which the party cannot fulfil and therefore they preferred to leave the party. All councillors were given full respect, but everybody’s every demand cannot be fulfilled,” Singh said.
