MCD’s first woman mayor likely to have 3-month term

Earlier this week, LG Saxena granted his approval for the first meeting of the newly elected municipal councillors and election to the post of the mayor to be held on January 6.

Under the existing provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, the first woman mayor of the corporation will have a truncated tenure of just three months and fresh elections for the post will need to be held in April 2023, municipal officials aware of the matter said Friday.

The MCD Civic Centre in New Delhi. (HT Photo)

Earlier this week, lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena granted his approval for the first meeting of the newly elected municipal councillors and election to the post of the mayor to be held on January 6.

To be sure, a mayoral election is held every year. Section 35 of the DMC Act mandates that “the corporation at its first meeting in each year must elect one of its members to be the chairperson to be known as the mayor and another member to be the deputy mayor of the corporation.”

However, according to the Act, a year refers to the year commencing on the 1st day of April, and unless there is a clarification or amendment through a gazette notification issued by the ministry of home affairs (MHA), the tenure of the mayor to be elected on January 6 will end on March 31. The second mayor elected in April need not be a woman candidate. However, the party with a majority may still choose to field the same candidate in April,” a senior municipal corporation official said, asking not to be named.

Over the five-year term of MCD, the office of the mayor is reserved in favour of a woman candidate in the first year and for a member belonging to a Scheduled Caste in the third year. “There is no upper bar on the number of mayors that can be elected during a five-year term. In fact, we have had precedents where a mayor resigned in the middle of a term and fresh elections were held,” a second official from the municipal secretariat said.

The five-year term for the reunified MCD will begin on January 6, 2023, and end on January 6, 2028. “Unless the legally grey area is rectified by MHA, this will also translate to a shorter tenure for the last mayor in 2027 as the election will once again need to be held in December 2027,” the official explained.

A former chief law officer of the erstwhile North MCD said that the legal position on the matter is clear. “Unless the MHA amends the DMC Act and changes the annual calendar or makes a one-time exception, the mayor elected on January 6 will only have a three-month tenure and a new mayor will have to be elected in April 2023,” he added.

To be sure, the Act of Parliament that unified the three municipal corporations--DMC (Amendment) Act 2022--empowers the central government to remove any “difficulty that arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act for a period of two years, by an order published in the Official Gazette”.

The posts of mayor and deputy mayor will be elected through a secret ballot which will see the participation of 250 elected councillors, seven Delhi Lok Sabha MPs, three Rajya Sabha MPs, and one-fifth of the members of the Delhi legislative assembly nominated by the speaker. The 10 aldermen (nominated members) do not have voting powers in the House of councillors.

Budget process altered

A third MCD official familiar with the official proceedings of the house stated that the annual cycle of the MCD calendar starting from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, is already underway. “The budget is presented by the commissioner in December, cleared by standing committee, ward committees and finally by the House of councillors before February 15 for fixing the tax matrix for the next financial year,” the official added.

“The commissioner has presented the budget proposals before the special officer Ashwini Kumar who represents the deliberative wing currently. The standing committee is not likely to be constituted before February as it will require the constitution of 12 ward committees across 12 administrative zones, each of which will later send one member to the standing committee. In such unprecedented situation, the budget will be directly presented and passed by the House of councillors,” the official added.