(Image source from: Arvind Kejriwal takes oath as CM of Delhi})

Arvind Kejriwal, AAP's national convener, has taken oath of office and secrecy as 7th chief minister of Delhi. The 45-year-old chief of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was administered oath by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung at the Ramlila ground.

AAP won 28 seats in the 70 member Delhi legislative assembly in its debut election. Kejriwal not only ousted Sheila Dikshit out from office but also from her constituency. He won with a large margin of 25,864 votes against the three-time chief minister. Kejriwal's success is remarkable considering the fact that the Aam Aadmi Party was formed only on November 26, 2012 following a split with Team Anna, when he decided to enter into politics.

Incidentally, the AAP chief has achieved success the first time in all his efforts. The November election was the first time that Kejriwal was contesting an elections and he became an MLA. He cleared the IIT entrance examination as well as the UPSC in the first attempt itself. And now he will soon be sworn in the 7th chief minister of Delhi at his first attempt into a political election.

Kejriwal was born on August 16, 1968, in Haryana's Hisar to Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi. He cleared the IIT entrance exam in 1985 right after school at his first attempt and graduated from IIT Kharagpur as a mechanical engineer. In 1989 he joined Tata Steel, where he worked for three years. In 1992, Kejriwal resigned from Tata Steel and cleared the UPSC in his first attempt. During his tenure in government service, Kejriwal took up social causes and worked at grass-roots level for the implementation of Right to Information Act. He wes awarded with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006 in recognition of his efforts towards enactment of RTI Act meant to empower India's poorest citizens.

Kejriwal resigned as joint commissioner in the income tax department in February 2006, and started an NGO, Public Cause Research Foundation, with the award money from Magsaysay as the corpus fund. The award from Magsaysay made him a well-known face, but Kejriwal came into the limelight in 2011, when the Jan Lokpal agitation took place under Anna Hazare. He was part of Team Anna and worked alongside Kiran Bedi, India’s first woman IPS officer, Prashant Bhushan, and several others.The draft of the jan lokpal, prepared by Team Anna was rejected by the Congress and other political parties, who also challenged them to enter into politics to try and remove corruption from within the system. Kejriwal took-up the challenge and plunged into politics with the formation of the AAP and emerged the winner. And today he has been sworn in as the chief minister of Delhi.

(Picture Source: hindustantimes.com)

(AW: Pratima Tigga)