Delhi Deputy Mayor: No Muslim card, won councilor election for the third time, Muslims can trust AAP, said AAP’s Ale Mohammad Iqbal
Aaley Mohammad Iqbal has won from Chandni Mahal ward with a margin of 17,134 votes, the highest ever in MCD elections.
Aishwarya Raj
After being selected as the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate for the post of deputy mayor in MCD, three-time councilor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal said he could become the first Muslim to be nominated for the post in many years. Huh. Aale Mohammad Iqbal has won from Chandni Mahal ward with a margin of 17,134 votes, the highest ever in MCD polls.
Muslims can trust AAP
Speaking to The Indian Express, Aale Mohammad Iqbal said, “The last person from our community to hold the post was in 1977. This sends a message that AAP is a party that Muslims can trust, and their rights will be protected. Arvind Kejriwal chose me because I am a senior councillor. This is my hat-trick (election victory). I won with the highest margin (in MCD elections). It is not right to call it appeasement or tokenism as it has forgotten my achievement and Kejriwal ji does not play the Muslim card.”
Attributing his victory to the trust of the people of his ward, Iqbal said, “I am busy and always available to listen to the grievances of the people in the walled city. The population is mostly lower and middle class. Like my father, I have always been with him.” Please tell that Mohammad Iqbal’s father is AAP MLA Shoaib Iqbal (AAP MLA Shoaib Iqbal), who is a six-time MLA from Matia Mahal. In 2020, he joined the party along with his son.
A seasoned politician, Mohammad Iqbal has had a long career, having been in various parties. Mohd Iqbal contested as an independent candidate in 2012 at the age of 22, in 2017 on a Congress ticket and in 2022 on an AAP ticket. Iqbal said that his brief stint with the Congress made him realize how powerless he was. He said that I knew that if I had to do something, I would have to be in power.
Work will have to be done in riot affected areas
On AAP’s poor performance in Northeast Delhi in the MCD polls (the first election after the 2020 riots), he said a lot needs to be done in the wards where the party fared poorly. Iqbal said, “We have to go to the ground, talk to people and analyze what went wrong. Especially in Northeast Delhi.”
