Delhi MCD mayor election today. See key points here

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 104 wards to finish second, while the Congress won nine seats in the 250-member municipal House which will convene on January 6 for the first time after the 2022 civic polls.

This was also the first municipal elections after the redrawing of the wards in the year gone by, the exercise being necessitated after the Centre brought a legislation in Parliament to unify the three local bodies.

The unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi came into effect from May 22, with Gyanesh Bharti and Ashwani Kumar taking charge as its municipal commissioner and special officer, respectively.

Earlier, in his latest order, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena nominated Satya Sharma as the Presiding Officer for the mayoral election, who is currently a councillor of ward no. 226 in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

The order stated that the first meeting of the newly-elected municipal corporation would convene on January 6 in attendance of the L-G that will have the election for the position of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the six members of the standing committee. The meeting will take place at 11 am in the morning at the Aruna Asif Ali Sabhagar at Dr SP Mukherjee Civic Centre, New Delhi.

Here are the key points you need to know: 

For the Mayor’s post, AAP has fielded Shelly Oberoi and Ashu Thakur. Oberoi who is AAP’s main contender has done her PhD from IGNOU’s School of Management Studies, has served as an assistant professor in several reputed universities. After being chosen for the top post, Oberoi said, “I would like to thank Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP for entrusting me with this responsibility. Over the next few months, we will all work together to make Delhi the city that it should have been. “The BJP during its tenure in the last 15 years has turned Delhi into the “garbage capital of the Country”. We will work together to ensure that Delhi becomes clean again.” Describing her priorities, she said the 10 guarantees given by her party during the elections will be fulfilled.

Rekha Gupta has been nominated from the BJP. Oberoi is AAP’s main contender. Gupta, after filing her nomination, asserted that she will contest the election with full strength. “I appeal to all the councillors that vote for the development and betterment of Delhi. I hope they will choose the right mayor for the city listening to the voice of their conscience,” she had said.

The nominees for the post of deputy mayor are Aaley Mohammad Iqbal and Jalaj Kumar from AAP. Aaley Mohammad Iqbal has been elected councillor from Ward 76 Chandni Mahal, Delhi. He was up against Irfan Malik of BJP and Mohammad Hamid of Congress in this election. He won the election by a record margin of over 17,000 votes. He was a councillor in 2012 and 2017 as well. He became councillor from Delhi Gate ward in 2017 and Turkman Gate in 2012. In 2012, he was the chairman of the city zone of North MCD. Kamal Bagri has been nominated from BJP for the deputy mayor’s role. 

The post of mayor in Delhi sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for the open category, third for the reserved category, and the remaining two also being in the open category.

The post of mayor is considered prestigious and a Delhi mayor wielded a lot of power until the erstwhile unified MCD, set up in 1958, was trifurcated into North Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi municipal corporations in 2012 with a mayor each for three civic bodies. The civic bodies were reunified in May 2022.

As per the notification, “The mayor so elected will then assume the chair and proceed to conduct the election of the Deputy Mayor and six members of the Standing Committee as required under section 35(1) and 45(1)(i) of the Act respectively.”

For the standing committee post, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Gajendra Daral and Pankaj Luthra are nominated from BJP. From AAP, Aamil Malik of Karawal Nagar ward, Raminder Kaur from Harinagar ward, Mohini Jeenwal of Seemapuri ward and Sarika Chaudhary of Jangpura ward have been nominated. There are 18 members in the standing committee of the MCD, of which 12 are elected from the zones and six from the House.

Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena on Thursday nominated BJP councillor Satya Sharma as the presiding officer for the first House meeting on Friday to elect the mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Reacting to the appointment, the AAP accused the BJP of being hell-bent on destroying all democratic traditions and institutions.

The Delhi Congress said that it will not take part in the city civic body’s mayoral election slated to be held on January 6. Anil Chaudhary said the Delhi unit of the Congress has unanimously decided not to support the Aam Aadmi Party or the BJP in the elections for the posts of mayor, deputy mayor and the leader of the house in the Municipal Corportion of Delhi.

(With inputs from agencies)