AAP MLAs elect Arvind Kejriwal as leader of legislature party
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal was elected AAP's Legislature Party leader on Wednesday. The development came after Kejriwal had called for a meeting of the party's newly-elected MLAs at his residence today. Kejriwal is likely to take oath as the Chief Minister of Delhi on February 16 at the Ramlila Maidan. According to an Aam Aadmi Party leader, a grand event was being planned for Kejriwal's ceremony. However, the final call regarding the venue was yet to be taken, the AAP leader said.
New Delhi Legislative Assembly to have 16 first-time MLAs, all from AAP
The new Delhi Legislative Assembly will have 16 first-time MLAs, all from the Aam Aadmi Party, including Atishi, Raghav Chadha and Dilip Pandey. Atishi, who was fielded from Kalkaji, won the seat by defeating BJP candidate Dharambir Singh by a margin of 11,393 votes. She unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections last year from the East Delhi constituency against BJP's Gautam Gambhir.
Chadha, who had also registered victory from Rajinder Nagar, defeated his BJP rival Sardar RP Singh by a margin of 20,058 votes. He too had contested from the South Delhi Lok Sabha seat but lost to BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri.
Pandey, who also unsuccessfully contested from the Northeast Delhi Lok Sabha seat in 2019, won the Timarpur seat by a margin of over 24,000 votes.
In 2017, Pandey had resigned from the post of AAP's Delhi unit convener after the party's drubbing in the MCD polls.
Delhi CM and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal hugs party leader Sanjay Singh during his address to supporters after party's victory in the State Assembly polls, at AAP office in New Delhi
Former Congress leader Rajkumari Dhillon, who joined the AAP ahead of the Delhi polls, won the Hari Nagar seat and defeated BJP's Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga by a margin of over 20,000 votes.
AAP's Preeti Tomar, who contested from the Tri Nagar seat, defeated BJP's Tilak Ram Gupta by a margin of over 10,700 votes.
Her husband Jitender Tomar was the sitting AAP MLA from Tri Nagar. He had won the seat in 2015 with a margin of 22,311 votes.
In January this year, the Delhi High Court had set aside the 2015 election of her husband, for allegedly giving false declaration regarding his educational qualification in his nomination papers. Following this, the party decided to field Preeti from the constituency.
AAP's Kondli candidate Kuldeep Kumar defeated his BJP rival Raj Kumar by a margin of 17,907 votes while Mukesh Kumar Ahlawat of the AAP trumped BJP's Ram Chander Chawriya from Sultanpur Majra, a reserved seat by a margin of 48,052 votes.
Abdul Rehman (Seelampur), Surendra Kumar (Gokalpur), Jai Bhagwan (Bawana) Raaj Kumar Anand (Patel Nagar), Rohit Kumar (Trilokpuri) were also among the first-time MLAs.
Senior Congress leader Mahabal Mishra's son Vinay Mishra, who was fielded by the AAP from Dwarka constituency, also won the seat by a margin of over 14,300 votes by defeating BJP's Parduymn Rajput.
AAP's Virender Singh Kandyan, who contested from Delhi Cantt, and Darampal Lakada, AAP's candidate from Mundka, are also among the new faces.
The AAP stormed back to power in the national capital on Tuesday, winning 62 seats in the 70-member Assembly.
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