Mahesh Khinchi from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was elected the new Mayor of Delhi today after a close contest with the BJP. Khinchi, a councilor from Dev Nagar (Ward No. 84), narrowly defeated BJP candidate Kishan Lal, the councilor from Shakurpur (Ward No. 62), by a margin of just three votes. Out of 265 votes cast in the mayoral election, two were declared invalid, with Khinchi securing 133 votes and Lal 130.
This year, the mayoral position was reserved for a Dalit candidate, making Khinchi the third mayor from the scheduled caste community. He takes over from his AAP predecessor, Shelly Oberoi.
In the same election, Ravindra Bhardwaj from AAP was elected unopposed as Deputy Mayor. Bhardwaj, a councilor from Aman Vihar (Ward No. 41), won after his BJP rival, councilor Neeta Bisht from Sadatpur (Ward No. 247), withdrew her nomination.
The voting, conducted at the MCD House, saw participation from key leaders of both AAP and BJP, including AAP MPs Sanjay Singh and ND Gupta, along with all seven BJP MPs from Delhi. In a surprising turn, Congress councilor Sabila Begum resigned from her party on the election day, announcing that she would vote for the AAP candidate. Her husband posted her resignation letter on social media platform X.
The BJP, which has 120 members, managed to gain 10 additional votes in the election. In a statement, the party attributed this to cross-voting by AAP members, saying, “Eight AAP councilors voted for BJP, and two votes were declared invalid.
This is not only a victory for democracy but also a moral defeat for Arvind Kejriwal, who has lost the moral right to continue as AAP convenor.”
Khinchi’s tenure as mayor will last only five months, as the election had been repeatedly postponed since April. This issue led to a walkout by Congress members, who had called for a full one-year term for the first Dalit mayor.
After his win, Khinchi thanked everyone present in the House and expressed gratitude to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, pledging to work sincerely under his leadership for the development of Delhi.