Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal takes oath inside Delhi Assembly
Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal and 70 newly-elected MLAs took oath today, the first day of a new Assembly session. Among them were 28 Aam Aadmi Party legislators, most of them first-timers.
At least one of them arrived in a battery-operated rickshaw covered in AAP campaign material with brooms - the party's election symbol - tucked into the roof. AAP's six ministers have been using public transport regularly since they were sworn in along with Mr Kejriwal on Saturday.
Tomorrow, Mr Kejriwal is expected to seek a confidence vote to prove that his party has the numbers to continue to govern Delhi.
His Aam Aadmi Party has 28 MLAs; Mr Kejriwal needs 36, over half of the Delhi Assembly's 70 members, and will depend on the Congress' eight legislators to take him to that number.
The new chief minister has been unwell, but has wasted no time in announcing executive decisions on several pre-election promises that he had made.
On Tuesday, he announced a 50 per cent cut in electricity tariffs for those in the capital who consume up to 400 units of power. He also announced that the three major power distribution companies in the capital will be audited starting today.
Soon after taking oath in the House today, Mr Kejriwal rushed to the government headquarters saying, "Am going to the Secretariat to check if power companies have replied on the audit. Audit is important. We will get a permanent solution for the problem once the audit report is out."
On Monday, the chief minister had delivered on another commitment he had made to voters - free water.
The Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Delhi Assembly will be elected on Friday. AAP has named first-time legislator M S Dhir as its candidate for the Speaker's post.
Lt Governor Najeeb Jung will address the House on January 6 and the session will close on Tuesday, January 7.