Race for Delhi Mayor’s elections begins

The members will also vote for choosing six members of the Standing Committee -- the most powerful panel of the civic body which ratifies all policies and proposals before they are taken up for discussion in the House.

Kicking off the process for elections to the post of Mayor, Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Wednesday issued a notice inviting nominations by the newly elected councillors, according to senior officials in the MCD secretariat.

For the first year, the post has been reserved for a woman candidate. (HT Archive)

The officials said that the nominations will stay open till December 27. The elections will be held on January 6 at the first meeting of the House. Besides the 250 councillors, seven Lok Sabha MPs, three Rajya Sabha MPs, and one-fifth of the total Delhi MLAs will vote to choose the Mayor, and a deputy mayor. The House will choose a mayor each year during its five-year term. For the first year, the post has been reserved for a woman candidate, the officials added.

The members will also vote for choosing six members of the Standing Committee -- the most powerful panel of the civic body which ratifies all policies and proposals before they are taken up for discussion in the House.

However, this time the first mayor may have a tenure of three months, till April. A municipal official explained that it is because the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act stipulates that the elections to the post of mayor are held after April 1 every year. “We will have to hold a second election in April going by the provisions of the Act. So far, no official communication has been received from central government regarding any amendment to this schedule,” the official added.

This will be the first mayoral polls after the unification of the municipal corporation in Delhi which was trifurcated in 2012. The three civic bodies in the city were merged by the Centre in May by amending the DMC Act.

The elections to the post of Mayor and the deputy mayor are held by secret ballot. Though the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has a clear majority of 134 in the 250-member House, there are chances of cross voting since the anti-defection law does not apply to these polls.

The first house meeting will be held on fourth floor of municipal headquarters at the Civic Center on Minto Road. Till December 21, 2022, the municipal secretariat has not received any nominations of MLAs from Delhi legislative assembly. Also, the Delhi LG is yet to nominate 10 Aldermen to the House. The Aldermen, however, do not have voting rights in the House.

Once the nominations are finalized for the posts of Mayor, deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee, the municipal secretariat will issue a second communication to the LG office asking for sending the names of an Oath officer and presiding officer, the MCD official said.

“The LG office will send names of the oath officer, usually a bureaucrat. and a presiding officer who is mostly the senior most member of the House. The oath officer will administer the oath of affirmation to the presiding officer. This officer will then preside over the oath taking process for rest of the 249 councillors, before the member participate in the elections process,” the official added.