New Delhi’s political landscape is seeing major shifts ahead of civic polls, most notably with Rajesh Gupta — a two-time legislator from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — defecting to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This defection has been described as emotionally-charged, with Gupta openly criticizing his former party’s leadership and warning that many inside AAP are unhappy and wish to leave. At the same time, the city is undergoing an administrative restructuring: the local revenue department has proposed creating nine new districts — expanding the number of districts from 11 to around 13. The goal is to realign district boundaries with municipal zones to reduce overlap and improve governance efficiency. These changes come as the city heads into by-elections for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), where competition between BJP and AAP is expected to intensify Meanwhile, environmental policy has also turned into political theatre: the controversial cloud-seeding experiment launched by the local government to fight pollution has sparked a heated “political slugfest.” Opposition and supporters accuse each other of misusing public funds or downplaying the pollution crisis.
