Indian anti-corruption leader wins confidence vote

The anti-graft leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Arvind Kejriwal, has won a vote of confidence in the state assembly as the new chief minister of Delhi.

Kejriwal managed to secure 37 votes, just one more than he needed, with the support of lawmakers from the Congress Party. However, 32 legislators, mostly from the main opposition Bhartiya Janata Party, voted against his government.

“This is a victory for the people of Delhi. It is a victory for truth and honesty,” Kejriwal said on Thursday after the session of the state assembly.

He was sworn in as the new chief minister of the Indian capital of Delhi at the Ramlila Ground on Saturday.

Shortly after he started his term of office, Kejriwal announced a reduction in electricity charges and vowed to be faithful to his party’s pledge to provide free clean water to Delhi’s residents.

His party entered the political equation in India after the Grassroots Anti-corruption rallies in 2011, in a bid to support 76-year-old social activist Anna Hazare’s call for cleaning up politics and passing an effective anti-graft law.

The party aims to run for several seats in the nationwide general elections scheduled to be held by May, 2014.