AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal with party leader Manish Sisodia after a party meeting at Kaushambi near Delhi
The Aam Aadmi Party or AAP today met to finalise its list of ministers and senior bureaucrats for Delhi. Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who will be Delhi's youngest chief minister at 45, has reportedly requested that the oath-taking ceremony be held on Thursday at the capital's sprawling Ramlila Maidan. Most of AAP's 28 legislators in Delhi are first-time politicians with no experience of governance.
Here are the latest developments:
High on the list of probable ministers is Mr Kejriwal's right hand man, Manish Sisodia. The 41-year-old journalist-turned-activist-turned politician trended on Twitter soon after he appeared beside Arvind Kejriwal in Monday to announce that AAP would form government based on "overwhelming approval" from the public in a referendum conducted over the last few days. (Read) Mr Sisodia won from Patparganj in East Delhi.
Among other first-time winners who could make it to Arvind Kejriwal's cabinet is 39-year-old Somnath Bharti, a lawyer and IIT-Delhi alumnus who defeated Congress minister Kiran Walia from Malviya Nagar in South Delhi.
Then there is Saurabh Bhardwaj, a 34-year-old engineering graduate who defeated Ajay Kumar Malhotra, son of veteran BJP leader VK Malhotra, by 13,000 votes from the Greater Kailash constituency in South Delhi.
Rakhi Birla, the much-talked-about young face of the party, found repeated mention in Mr Kejriwal's press conference soon after his party's dazzling debut in the Delhi polls. She defeated heavyweight Rajkumar Chauhan, the Public Works Department Minister in the outgoing Sheila Dikshit government, by about 10,500 votes. If inducted, she will be the youngest member of the Delhi cabinet at 26. (Meet AAP's giant killers)
Vinod Kumar Binny, who posted a big win by beating former health minister and senior Congress leader AK Walia by a margin of around 8,000 votes in Laxmi Nagar in East Delhi, is also expected to be made minister. Formerly with the Congress, Mr Binny, 40, left the party after joining the Jan Lokpal movement that was fronted by Gandhian Anna Hazare and Mr Kejriwal in 2011. Mr Binny is said to be the brain behind the 'Mohalla Sabhas', or neighbourhood meetings that AAP conducted through the last week across the national capital to gather public opinion on whether it should form government. (Pics: Meet Team Kejriwal's likely ministers)
Shazia Ilmi, one of AAP's top leaders, narrowly lost her election in RK Puram. She is expected to be made the head of Delhi Women's Commission.
The chief minister-to-be has refused security cover and his new ministers will not travel in cars with red beacons. (Read)
The party has also said that its ministers will not accept large government bungalows. (Read)
As Mr Kejriwal met Delhi's Lieutenant Governor yesterday to stake claim to form government, a workshop was held to give the party's MLAs a lesson in "swaraj" or good governance.
AAP plans to divide Delhi's 272 wards into mohallas or "neighbourhoods." Each mohalla will have a committee which will play a crucial role in decision-making.
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