Atishi swearing-in as Delhi CM likely on Saturday evening, say officials

The swearing-in ceremony of AAP leader Atishi as Delhi chief minister is expected to take place at Raj Niwas on Saturday evening, officials said. The official details of the timing of the oath ceremony are awaited as the process for gazette notification for resignation of outgoing chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, formation of the new government and oath of the new chief minister are still underway, they said.

"The oath ceremony is expected to be held late Saturday afternoon or in the evening, after all the formalities are completed," the officials said.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sources claimed that the ceremony may be held around 4.30 pm on Saturday.

There was, however, no clarity if Atishi will take oath along with her council of ministers.

The swearing-in ceremony is likely to be a low-key affair as the mood in the party is not upbeat because of Kejriwal's resignation and also because of the delay in approvals, leaving little time for preparations, said an AAP leader.

After Kejriwal tendered resignation as Delhi chief minister along with the council of ministers to Lieutenant Governor (LG) V K Saxena on Tuesday, files of both the resignation and government formation by Atishi were sent to President droupadi Murmu for her nod, proposing September 21 as the date for swearing-in ceremony, the officials said.

Sources claimed the notifications for formation of the government and oath was expected to be received by the LG office late Friday night or next day.

The AAP MLAs met earlier this week and unanimously chose Atishi as the leader of the ruling legislature party.

The new council of ministers announced by AAP includes Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Imran Hussain and new entrant Mukesh Ahlawat, who is a first-time MLA from Sultanpur Majra.

Rai, Gahlot, Bharadwaj and Hussain are ministers in the outgoing Kejriwal government.

Kejriwal, the AAP national convener, walked out of the Tihar jail on September 13, spending over five months there in an excise policy case.

In a surprise announcement two days later, Kejriwal said he would resign in the wake of BJP's "mud slinging" against him over corruption. He would return to the post of chief minister after getting "certificate of honesty" from Delhi people in the upcoming assembly polls, he said.