Arvind Kejriwal, who led his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to another stunning victory in the assembly elections, will take oath as the chief minister of Delhi for the third time on Sunday.
Kejriwal is scheduled to be sworn-in along with his six of his ministers in a ceremony which will begin at 10am in the sprawling Ramlila Maidan.
The AAP romped to a magnificent victory in the Delhi Assembly election, in which the party won a thumping majority of 62 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly for the second time since 2015. The Bharatiya Janata Party got the rest of the eight seats.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to turn up at the Ramlila Maidan as Kejriwal and his ministers take the oath of office.
Here’s what you need to know about the ceremony:
Who will take the oath?
Apart from Arvind Kejriwal, six of his party leaders will also take oath as part of his cabinet. Kejriwal is likely to retain all the six ministers who served his government in the previous term – Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Imran Hussain, Gopal Rai, Rajendra Gautam and Kailash Gehlot.
Kejriwal hosted a dinner meeting for his cabinet colleagues to discuss the roadmap for the future “development of the national capital” as well as the initiatives to be implemented by the party in the first three months of the government’s term.
Who is attending the ceremony?
Kejriwal and several of his party member through from-page advertisements in newspapers and tweets have urged the people of the city to witness “the son of Delhi” taking oath on Sunday.
He has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seven lawmakers of the Bharatiya Janata Party who represent the city and all the eight of its newly-elected members of legislative assembly to his swearing-in ceremony. The Prime Minister, who is scheduled to visit his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, is unlikely to attend the ceremony.
A group of 50 commoners will be sharing the stage with him under the banner of “Dilli ke Nirmata” or the architects of Delhi.
The special invitees will include doctors, teachers, sanitation workers, bus conductors, bus drivers, marshals deployed for women security, auto-rickshaw drivers, farmers, anganwadi workers, athletes, IIT and medical students enrolled under scholarships, PWD engineers, businessmen, mobile ambulance operator, relatives of firefighters and police officials who lost their lives on the line of duty and the chief architect of Signature Bridge Ratan Jamshed Batliboi, among others.
“Baby Mufflerman” Aavyan Tomar, the toddler who stole hearts when he dressed up as Arvind Kejriwal on counting day, is also likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Where will it be held?
The sprawling Ramlila Maidan in the heart of the city has been chosen once again by the AAP for the oath-taking ceremony.
Ramlila Maidan is associated with the AAP and the 51-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician since 2011 when he and other members of the party took part in the India Against Corruption movement led by social activist Anna Hazare.
And, this will be the third time Kejriwal will be taking oath as Delhi’s chief minister for the third time—first in 2013 and then in 2015.
What are the arrangements in and around the venue?
More than 150,000 people are expected to turn up at the Ramlila Maidan, where multi-layered security has been put in place.
As many as 3000 AAP volunteers will help in crowd management and more than 5000 security personnel, including the personnel of Delhi Police and paramilitary forces, have been deployed for the ceremony.
Police will also keep an eye on the venue through closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera. Restrictions have been enforced in the Ramlila Maidan area from 8am to 2pm on Sunday.
Traffic advisory
Delhi Traffic Police have issued an advisory regarding the movement restrictions.
Vehicles can be parked behind Civic Centre, Mata Sundari Road, Power House Road, Velodrome Road, Rajghat Road, Shanti Van Parking, Service Roads Rajghat and Samta Sthal.
“OB Vans shall be parked on the footpath of JLN Marg, opposite Ramlila Maidan beyond Gate no 2 up to Kamla Market,” the advisory said.
The entry of commercial vehicles and buses have been restricted in few places such as Rajghat Chowk and Delhi Gate Chowk towards Guru Nanak Chowk via JLN Marg.
No commercial vehicles and buses will be allowed from Chatta Rail towards Delhi Gate Chowk via Netaji Subhash Marg, Paharganj Chowk towards via Netaji Subhash Marg, Paharganj Chowk towards Ajmeri Gate via DBG road.
Similar restrictions are there on Ram Charan Aggrawal Chowk towards Delhi Gate chowk via Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg as well as on DDU Minto Road towards Kamla Market Chowk via Vivekanand Marg and Barakhamba Tolstoy towards Ranjit Singh Flyover.
