AAP’s Mahesh Khinchi elected as Delhi mayor, defeats BJP candidate by thin margin
Khinchi is Delhi's first Dalit Mayor, and he won the election amid chaos that included a walkout by Congress councillors; one Congress member resigned to vote for Khinchi
In a major boost to the ruling party in the capital, the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Mahesh Khinchi was elected as the next mayor of Delhi on Thursday.
This victory comes ahead of the Assembly polls due in the capital early next year.
Delhi's first Dalit mayor
Khinchi, a Dalit candidate fielded by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Kishan Lal by a wafer-thin margin of three votes.
Khinchi, Delhi's first Dalit Mayor, got 133 votes and the BJP's Kishan Pal 130 votes in the election held this evening after much chaos and disruption that included a walkout by the Congress members.
Chaos and disruption
Two votes were declared invalid. The Congress councillors did not participate in the voting process. Significantly, though the BJP had 120 members they managed to bag 10 more votes.
In the middle of the chaos, Congress' Mohammad Khushnood and his wife Sabila Begum resigned from the primary membership of the party to enable her to vote for the AAP candidate. While the seven Congress councillors walked out as the voting started, she stayed back to vote.
Sabila Begum said she was resigning because she objected to the party walking out of the election process which would then just benefit the BJP.
Five month tenure
Khinchi's tenure will last only for five months since the mayor's election was repeatedly postponed since April. This was the reason the Congress staged a walkout since they wanted an entire one-year tenure for the first Dalit mayor.
The polls has been delayed from April due to a protracted war of words between the AAP and the BJP.
At first, the election was delayed because the then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was in judicial custody in the excise policy case. Then AAP boycotted the election held in September after the councillors were frisked. The Congress had abstained from voting that time as well.
There was further delay over procedural disputes, including the appointment of a presiding officer by the Lieutenant Governor.
The counting of the votes polled for the election of the deputy mayor is underway.
(With inputs from agencies)
