With the Aam Aadmi Party withdrawing its plea in the Delhi High Court following it being rendered infructuous, the party must come to terms with a long legal battle ahead. As of now, disqualified MLAs have no interim relief and the ball is in Election Commission ’s court regarding fresh polls.Given past hostility between AAP and BJP , President Ram Nath Kovind ’s swift nod to EC’s recommendation unseating the legislators was on expected lines. The completion of this process in the last days of CEC AK Joti’s tenure, however, underscored the poll body’s clumsiness.Judicial scrutiny of AAP’s contention — after HC in September 2016 declared appointment of 21 political secretaries to Delhi ministers as void, these disqualifications were unwarranted — will determine if the charge of the EC being complicit with the Centre and BJP holds or not. The developments occurred even as a new CEC and a commissioner take charge. It is necessary for EC to be circumspect over calling for bypolls to fill vacancies.It has to be kept in mind that if and when bypolls are held, it could rearrange Delhi’s political map. In April last, BJP swept civic body polls. In the subsequent bypoll for the Bawana seat in August 2017, though AAP retained the seat, BJP and Congress polled 27% and 24%, votes respectively. Moreover, the spread of seats would make bypolls a mini-general election.AAP is contending President Kovind acted before hearing it. The disqualifications are being projected as another effort to destabilise the state government. The party has flagged similar appointments in other BJP-ruled states to claim it is being unduly targeted. As a counter, BJP contends that appointment of MLAs to executive posts was political corruption and misappropriation of political mandate.Congress, too, is playing ball with the aim of re-emerging as a major player. Corruption charges against AAP, however, does not stick in this case. Instead, the malaise is beyond the realm of accusations and counter-charges in competitive politics. The way secretaries were appointed — as political largesse — and, thereafter, how AAP tackled the issue, demonstrated its move away from the abstract of principled idealism that guided the party’s coagulation. These 2015 selections indicated AAP’s embrace of amoral or practical realism. Party leaders ignored that AAP was emerged through a mass movement to provide a platform for alternative politics.Initial symptoms of deviation surfaced in 2015 when adequate background checks on candidates were abandoned for other considerations. Party leaders also succeeded in warding off criticism over fund collection given the anti-BJP forces prioritising the need to prop up opposition to the Modi juggernaut.BJP wave appeared unstoppable in 2014 and in subsequent state polls. The Delhi verdict in February 2015 was interpreted as ‘electoral correction’. Ironically, this was followed by AAP succumbing to arrogance and allurement of the trappings of power.While pragmatism was necessary to work with the L-G, Kejriwal chose the confrontational mode. In less than four months of assuming office this conflict assumed the nature of a quasi-potboiler and the CM fashioned himself as ‘andolan purush’. Since assuming power, Kejriwal prioritised over-ambitious expansion outside Delhi. BJP wasted no opportunity, but the state government too assumed collision was substitute to its primary business.AAP is savaged with rifts. Desertions may be tough to prevent in the event of no early legal respite.Although AAP enjoys legislative majority, BJP will aim to split it and reduce the government to a minority. Regardless of how the legal battle unfolds, AAP remains guilty of selfdestructively wasting its mandate.Events in Delhi will cast a shadow on the run-up to 2019.