NEW DELHI : After a close contest, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Mahesh Khichi was elected as the new Mayor of Delhi on Thursday edging past the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Kishan Lal by just three votes. This marks a significant win for the ruling party ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
Khichi secured 133 votes, while Lal received 130, with two votes deemed invalid. At the same time, Ravindra Bhardwaj of the Aam Aadmi Party was elected unopposed to the post of Deputy Mayor. In addition to the elected councillors in the house, seven MPs from Lok Sabha (all BJP), three from Rajya Sabha (all from AAP), and 14 MLAs (13 from AAP and one from BJP) nominated by the Delhi Assembly Speaker were eligible to vote in the election.
This year, the position of Mayor was reserved for a Dalit candidate. The mayoral polls, initially scheduled for April, had been repeatedly delayed amid a prolonged standoff between AAP and BJP. As a result, the new Mayor will serve a shortened tenure of just five months.
Meanwhile, the Congress party opted out of the vote, with all of its councillors abstaining to protest the shortened tenure proposed for the new mayor, calling instead for a full term.