Just five days before the crucial Delhi Assembly elections, seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs resigned from the party’s primary membership on Friday. Six of them were denied tickets for the upcoming polls, leading to discontent within their ranks.

Palam MLA Bhawna Gaur and Kasturba Nagar MLA Madan Lal, in separate letters to AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, cited a loss of faith in him and the party as the reason for their departure. “I hereby resign from the primary membership of Aam Aadmi Party as I have lost faith in you and the party. Please accept the same,” they wrote.

Other outgoing legislators include Trilokpuri MLA Rohit Mehraulia, Janakpuri MLA Rajesh Rishi, Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav, Adarsh Nagar MLA Pawan Sharma, and Bijwasan MLA BS Joon.

Naresh Yadav, who was initially given a ticket, later returned it after allegations in the Punjab Quran sacrilege case against him were confirmed. The party replaced him with Mahender Chaudhary, and Yadav subsequently resigned from AAP.

AAP has announced candidates for all 70 Delhi Assembly seats, with key replacements including Mukesh Goel (Adarsh Nagar), Pravin Kumar (Janakpuri), Surendra Bhardwaj (Bijwasan), Joginder Solanki (Palam), Ramesh Pehlwan (Kasturba Nagar), and Anjana Parcha (Trilokpuri).

Delhi will go to polls on February 5, with vote counting scheduled for February 8. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is seeking a third consecutive term in office, facing a stiff challenge from the BJP, which has been out of power in the capital for 27 years, while the Congress remains in the fray as a third contender.