AAP’s Mahesh Khichi elected Delhi Mayor in narrow victory ahead of assembly polls

Mahesh Khichi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was elected as the new mayor of the national capital on Thursday, edging out BJP’s Kishan Lal by a razor-thin margin of just three votes.

Khichi, a Dalit candidate, received 133 votes, while Lal secured 130 votes.

Two votes were declared invalid during the process.


The win brings a major boost for the ruling AAP ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, scheduled for early next year.

The election of the mayor, which had been delayed since April due to a prolonged power struggle between AAP and the Saffron Party, saw Congress boycott the proceedings.

Congress, which holds eight seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), did not participate in the voting process, citing their demand for a full-term mayor instead of the truncated tenure currently on offer.

The vote for the deputy mayor is still underway, with the results pending at the time of reporting.

(With inputs from PTI)