Delhi’s 3 municipal corporations get new mayors, deputy mayors

GTB Nagar councillor Raja Iqbal Singh was elected mayor from North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Raghubarpura councillor Shyam Sundar Agrawal from East Delhi Municipal Corporation, and Sagarpur councillor Mukesh Suryan has been elected mayor of South Delhi Municipal Corporation

The three municipal corporations of Delhi elected their mayors and deputy mayors on Wednesday. Raja Iqbal Singh was elected the North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor, Shyam Sundar Agrawal as that of East Delhi Municipal Corporation, and Mukesh Suryan of South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The BJP has a clear majority in all three municipal corporations. So, the nominees for the posts of mayor and deputy mayors were elected unopposed. (Representational Image)

Archana Dilip Singh, Kiran Vaidya and Pawan Sharma were elected as deputy mayors.

Singh is a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillor. His election as mayor comes months after the SAD severed its ties with the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre over the issue of the farm laws.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and SAD contested the 2017 municipal elections together. SAD had won five seats. Last year, when SAD broken its alliance with the BJP, its councillors resigned from their posts. But Singh, who was then the chairman of Civil Lines Zonal Committee, did not toe the party line. He continued his association with the BJP and was nominated for the post of mayor.

The outgoing mayors are Jai Prakash, Anamika Mithilesh and Nirmal Jain.

The BJP has a clear majority in all three municipal corporations. So, the nominees for the posts of mayor and deputy mayors were elected unopposed.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act provides for the election for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor from among the councillors of the civic bodies in the first meeting of the corporations every year. Mayors and deputy mayors get a year-long term.

Elections of mayor and deputy mayor were to be conducted in April, but the process was delayed by two months due to coronavirus pandemic.

Singh said, “Our priorities would be to save Delhi from the third wave of Covid-19, proper sanitation facilities, good education, and health care facilities. The stress would be on making the corporation self-reliant and the ongoing projects would be given a boost.”

Suryan said his foremost priority will be effectively dealing with the pandemic. “Due to Covid, the civic body is facing financial challenges, so we need to focus on a better revenue generation plan to deal with the situation,” he said.

Aggarwal said it would be his priority to make the corporation self-reliant. “I will work for the improvement of the sanitation system and public health. The primary responsibility of the corporation is to keep the area clean so sanitation work will be improved to keep East Delhi clean.”