The Indraprastha Vikas Party (IVP), a breakaway faction of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday after all its 16 councillors joined the ruling party in the presence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra, taking their strength in the 250-member Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House to 139.

Ms. Gupta said residents of the councillors’ wards would now fully benefit from the development initiatives of Delhi’s “triple-engine government”.

The IVP emerged as a separate front in the MCD in May last year after 13 councillors, led by Mukesh Goyal and Hemchand Goyal, resigned from AAP, citing “disillusionment” with AAP’s leadership.

“Although the party maintained cordial relations with the BJP, the councillors and their supporters eventually realised that by remaining a separate party, they were unable to ensure that their wards fully benefited from the all-round development being undertaken under the leadership of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta,” IVP chief Mukesh Goyal said.

AAP’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “We knew the BJP was behind this entire operation. Today, the mask has finally come off IVP.”

Meanwhile, three IVP leaders were among those nominated on Friday for the posts of chairman and deputy chairman of the 12 ward committees and for membership of the Standing Committee, ahead of the July 15 elections.

Published - July 11, 2026 01:52 am IST