NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday suspended three Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) councillors with immediate effect, a day after alleging cross-voting during the ward committee elections, news agency PTI reported.Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj announced the decision on X.The suspended councillors are Nirmala Devi (Sharma) from the West Zone, Krishna Devi Raghav from the West Zone and Sultana Abad from the City SP Zone, according to PTI.The party alleged that the three councillors had cross-voted during the MCD elections. It also claimed that the chairman in the West Zone was elected because of cross-voting.“In the West Zone, the chairman was elected through cross-voting and in the City SP Zone, councillors who cross-voted against the party have been suspended with immediate effect,” AAP leader of opposition in the MCD Ankush Narang said in a statement on X.The party said its message was clear that a “betrayal of the mandate and the party will not be tolerated.”It added that strict action against those involved in anti-party activities would continue, saying, “Elections are not fought by an individual, but by the entire party.”According to PTI, AAP initially had seven councillors in the City SP Zone, while the BJP had four and the Forward Bloc had one. However, BJP candidate Usha Sharma secured seven votes to win the chairperson’s post, while AAP received five votes. The party alleged that cross-voting by two of its councillors led to the BJP candidate’s victory.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday won the chairperson’s post in 10 of the 12 MCD ward committees and secured five of the six seats in the civic body’s Standing Committee, PTI reported.AAP won the remaining two ward committees and one Standing Committee seat. With the latest results, the BJP has strengthened its majority in the 18-member Standing Committee, which now has 12 BJP members and six AAP members, according to PTI.
