Newly elected MCD councillors to take oath, elect Delhi mayor on Jan 6

At the first MCD meeting on January 6, the 250 municipal councillors will take oath, elect the mayor and deputy mayor, and elect of the six members of the standing committee

NEW DELHI: The first meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be held on January 6, marking the beginning of a five-year tenure of the unified corporation and the city’s 250 newly elected councillors, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

First MCD meeting: The mayoral election is held by secret ballot and no anti-defection laws are applicable in case of cross-voting (HT File Photo)

Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena signed off on the proposal to convene the MCD meeting on Dec 14.

A senior municipal official said the agenda of the first meeting includes four processes, oath and affirmation of 250 councillors, election of the mayor and deputy mayor and election of the six members of the standing committee.

“The election is held by secret ballot and no anti-defection laws are applicable in case of cross-voting,” the official, who asked not to be named, said The post of the mayor is reserved for a female councillor in the first of the MCD’s five year tenure.

The results for MCD elections were announced on December 7, 2022. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 134 of the 250 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 104 while the Congress secured only 9 seats. Three wards elected independent candidates.

Process

According to Section 73 of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957, the first meeting of the corporation after a general election shall be held as early as possible after the publication of the results of the election. Section 14 said the meeting of the elected body shall be convened by the Administrator.

“The proposal for the first meeting was moved by the MCD commissioner on December 12, 2022 to the Urban Development department requesting for LG’s approval to convene the first meeting of MCD. The file approved by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is also minister (urban development) and CM Arvind Kejriwal and it was finally received in Raj Niwas on December 14, 2022 and the LG accorded his approval on the same day,” an official from LG house stated.

According to Section 77 of the DMC Act, the Presiding Officer at the meeting for election of mayor needs to be a councilor who is not a candidate for such election and shall be nominated by the LG. “A second letter will be sent to the LG office in coming days for appointing the person for presiding over this first meeting. This nominated person will administer oath to one of the members who is usually the senior most councilor who later presides over the rest of the oath taking process. Once the election of mayor is concluded, the role of this nominated person ends and mayor becomes the head of the house of councilors. At least 20 days are needed for seeking nomination, allowing withdrawal of nominations and usually mayor is elected unopposed by the party with majority,” an official from municipal secretariat explained.

Elections

The electoral college for the election of mayor now includes 250 elected councilors, seven members of Lok Sabha, three members of Rajya Sabha and 1/5th of the members of the Delhi Assembly nominated by the Speaker by rotation every year (13 MLAs).

While 10 persons nominated by the LG (administrator) called Alderman are also part of the house of councilors, they do not have voting rights in the house.

Once the elections at the central level are over, the focus will shift to elections at the 12 administrative zones each of which is represented by a Wards Committee. Each zone can send one member to the powerful standing committee. As per the current distribution of councilors across the 12 zones, 4 zones have clear majority of BJP, 7 are dominated by AAP while one zone has close contest. “Aldermen have voting rights at the zonal level and they may tip the balance in some of these closely contested zones,” an official explained.