NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party's Aaley Mohammad Iqbal was on Wednesday elected the deputy mayor of Delhi, defeating the BJP's Kamal Bagri by a margin of 31 votes, officials said on Wednesday.
Iqbal bagged 147 votes against Bagri's 116.
The voting was held at the Civic Centre.
Immediately after the win, Iqbal said he is committed to the people of Delhi and will work for their betterment. "We know that 80 days have been wasted by BJP but we will cover this in eight days. We have a lot of work to do and fulfilling the 10 guarantees by the Delhi chief minister will be our priority. We are committed to the people of Delhi and will work for the betterment of people and very soon that will be visible on the ground," he told PTI after the results were announced.
This was the new municipal corporation's fourth attempt to elect a mayor and deputy mayor. The three previous elections were stalled amid ruckus over voting rights being given to aldermen (nominated members).
The matter went to the Supreme Court which held that the members nominated to the MCD by the Lt Governor cannot vote to elect the mayor.
AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Iqbal's victory was people's victory. "Many congratulations to @AaleyIqbal ji on being elected the Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the people of Delhi. People have won," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also congratulated Iqbal and said despite the BJP, Centre and the Delhi LG "trying to stop" the polls, the people of Delhi managed to make the polls happen.
"Many congratulations to Aaley Iqbal on being elected as the Deputy Mayor of Aam Aadmi Party in Municipal Corporation of Delhi. BJP, Centre and even LG, all went against the Constitution and tried to stop it, but Delhi's Janata did it. Kejriwal in MCD too," he said in a tweet in Hindi.
Earlier in the day, Shelly Oberoi of the Aam Aadmi Party emerged victorious in the mayoral elections, defeating the BJP's Rekha Gupta.