File Photo: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with his deputy Manish Sisodia (Press Trust of India)
Swati Maliwal, wife of AAP leader Navin Jaihind, will take over the charge of chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) tomorrow with the AAP government on Friday notifying her appointment.
Ms Maliwal (30), who is an advisor to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on public grievances and handles his Janta Samwad, has been associated with the AAP chief since India Against Corruption (IAC) days.
"The government of NCT of Delhi hereby reconstitutes the Delhi Commission For Women (DCW) consisting of the Swati Maliwal, Chairperson, Promila Gupta, Farheen Malik and Sarika Chaudhary as its members," the notification read.
The Chairperson and the members of the commission shall hold the office with effect from July 18 for three years as provided under Section 4 of the DCW Act,1994, it also stated.
The opposition was aggressive over Ms Maliwal's selection terming it as "nepotism" while the AAP maintained that her selection was done purely on "merit".
Referring to reports claiming that Mr Jaihind and Mr Kejriwal were relatives, BJP's Delhi unit president Satish Upadhyay questioned whether the Delhi CM was carrying forward the "Jai Hind jijaji (hail brother-in-law)" tradition of Congress by considering Ms Maliwal for the job. He said the BJP would approach the court if it finds Ms Maliwal was not qualified for the post.
The Congress had also said AAP, which used to criticise nepotism and favouritism, are now following the same path just to promote few members of his party.