Stage set for second round in MCD mayoral polls

The BJP on Tuesday announced its candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor of the MCD, elections to which are scheduled to take place on April 26.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday announced its candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections to which are scheduled to take place on April 26.

Both the AAP and the BJP have announced their candidates for the April 26 mayoral polls. (HT Photo)

According to party officials, Greater Kailash councillor Shikha Rai will be BJP’s nominee for the post mayor while Soni Pandey, councillor from Sonia Vihar, will be the candidate for deputy mayor.

The Aam Aadmi Party had named the incumbent mayor, Shelly Oberoi, and her deputy, Aaley Mohammad Iqbal, as the party’s candidates for the polls. Both AAP nominees filed their nominations on Monday.

Rai and Pandey filed their election nominations on Tuesday at in the MCD secretary’s office in the presence of Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra at 2pm. Malhotra said that the BJP is determined to run a good, clean and strong municipal corporation, and added, “We hope that all councillors will elect the experienced senior leader from the BJP.”

Rai said that she will present her vision letter for MCD in front of all councillors, and on the basis of that she will seek their support.

The polls are coming at a time when the municipal corporation is in a limbo with the civic body yet to elect the powerful Standing Committee and zonal ward committees in the aftermath of a bitter feud holding up the mayoral polls. Also, courts are seized of two important matters that will have a bearing on the structure of the corporation. While the Delhi high court is hearing a petition challenging the February 24 Standing Committee elections, the Supreme Court is seized of a petition by the Aam Aadmi Party challenging the nomination of 10 aldermen by the LG. Both cases will be heard by the respective courts on April 24.

Oberoi and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal were elected on February 22 at a House meeting that came after three failed attempts to convene the MCD House, all marred by violence and pandemonium. Oberoi defeated BJP candidate Rekha Gupta by 34 votes while Aaley Iqbal won the deputy mayor post election by 31 votes.

Under the provisions of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, a new mayor and deputy mayor have to be elected at the beginning of the financial year in April. Since the MCD elections were delayed this time, and were held in December, both the mayor and deputy mayor served short tenures.

The mayoral elections are held on secret ballot, and anti-defection laws do not apply. The electoral college for the two posts consists of 250 elected councillors, 14 legislative assembly members nominated by the Speaker, and 10 members of Parliament from Delhi (7 Lok Sabha and 3 Rajya Sabha).

The AAP holds a clear numerical advantage. The party has 134 councillors, 13 of the 14 nominated MLAs and three Rajya Sabha MPs. The BJP, on the other hand, has 105 councillors, one MLA and seven Lok Sabha MPs.

A senior municipal official said that with the candidates finalised, the civic body will initiate the process for printing of ballot papers and make other preparations for the elections. “A file will be moved to the lieutenant governor secretariat for appointment of presiding officer for holding the elections. Typically, the outgoing mayor is the presiding officer in such elections but since Shelly Oberoi is also a candidate this time, she cannot preside over the meeting,” the official added.

In the history of MCD, only eight mayors have served more than one term. According to MCD records, these eight mayors are: Shamnath was Delhi mayor from (1960-1962), Nuruddin Ahmed (1965-1967), Hansraj Gupta (1967-1972), Kedarnath Sahani (1972-1975), Rajender Gupta (1977-1980), Mahender Singh Sathi (1983-1990), Shanti Desai (2000-2002) and Aarti Mehra (2007-2009).

After the trifurcation of MCD in 2012, MCD had 30 mayors till 2022, but nobody was fielded for a second term.

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