The Aam Aadmi Party triumphed in the election to the post of mayor and deputy mayor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) as its candidate, Mahesh Kumar Khichi, secured victory by three votes against BJP nominee Kishan Lal and Ravinder Bhardwaj clinched victory unopposed.
Khichi, a Dalit candidate, defeated his BJP rival with a narrow margin of three votes. Khichi got 133 votes while Lal secured 130 votes. Two votes, one by AAP and one by BJP were declared invalid.
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The eight councillors of the Congress did not participate in the voting process.
AAP had a narrow victory margin as eight of its councilors had cross voted while no BJP councilor cross voted.
The newly elected Mayor, Khichi represents the Dev Nagar ward of Karol Bagh and Deputy Mayor Bharadwaj represents the Aman Vihar ward.
In this election, 249 councillors, 14 MLAs, seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs were to cast their votes but only 263 exercised their franchise.
BJP councillor Satya Sharma from the Gautampuri ward was appointed presiding officer by the LG to oversee the election, which was due in April this year.
Earlier in the day, Congress councillors announced a boycott of the election but just before the elections, Sabila Begum, a Congress councillor resigned from the party and vowed to support the AAP candidate.
As per MCD regulations, the mayoral elections are supposed to be held every year in April with the tenure of the incumbent being one year as part of a five-year rotation. The first term is designated for women, the second for the open category, the third for a reserved category, and the final two terms again for the open category.
