AAP’s Mahesh Khichi elected Delhi mayor

Khichi, a Dalit candidate fielded by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, defeats the BJP’s Kishan Lal by a wafer-thin margin of 3 votes

PTI

New Delhi, Updated At : 09:36 PM Nov 14, 2024 IST

Delhi Mayor-elect Mahesh Khichi assumes his office as AAP leader Sanjay Singh and others greet him after the MCD mayoral elections, at MCD House, in New Delhi, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. PTI

The Aam Aadmi Party's Mahesh Khichi was elected the next mayor of Delhi on Thursday, in a major boost to the ruling party in the national capital ahead of the Assembly polls due early next year.

Khichi, a Dalit candidate fielded by the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, defeated the BJP’s Kishan Lal by a wafer-thin margin of three votes. While Khichi got 133 votes, Lal secured 130 votes. Two votes were declared invalid.

The eight councillors of the Congress did not participate in the voting process.

The polls, which were delayed from April due to a protracted war of words between the AAP and the BJP, saw the Congress boycott the voting process, demanding a full term for the mayor rather than the truncated tenure now on offer.