Delhi govt wins vote of confidence in assembly

The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday won a confidence motion moved by Delhi chief minister and the party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, who said the vote was meant to show the people that the House, where his party has an overwhelming majority, has confidence in the council of ministers, as he alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to topple his govern continued onment.

- Alok K N Mishra

The motion was passed with a voice vote, with 54 of AAP's 62 MLAs present during the voting. AAP has a majority in the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

Kejriwal said no AAP MLA defected. Two AAP MLAs Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain - are currently in jail and the other six were not in attendance due to personal reasons.

Leader of opposition in the assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri was the only Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA present in the assembly with the party's other seven MLAs having been suspended on Friday from the House for interrupting the Lieutenant Governor's (L-G) address. Bidhuri's was the only vote against the motion.

Kejriwal moved the trust vote in the House on Friday during the Budget session of the Assembly, alleging that the BJP was trying to poach AAP MLAs to topple his government. He repeated this claim on Saturday during the discussion on the motion of confidence. He claimed BJP's attacks on the AAP were borne out of fear and its inability to accept defeat.

"In 12 years, the AAP has emerged as the third-largest party in the country... In such a short time we have a full majority government in two states.

Never in the history of Punjab has a party won 92 seats and never before in the history of Delhi has a party won 67. In future, they (BJP) only fear the AAP," Kejriwal said.

"In 2015 and even in 2019, BJP came to Centre with a huge majority, but was reduced to 3 and 8 seats in Delhi Assembly, the BJP is unable to digest this defeat," he added.

The AAP chief alleged there were rumours that the Delhi Assembly will be dissolved once Lok Sabha elections-expected to be held in the summer-end, accusing the BJP-ruled central government of trying to end the national capital's partial statehood.