The Municipal Corporation of Delhi will elect a new mayor and deputy mayor on Wednesday, as the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and opposition BJP continue to feud.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will elect a new mayor and a deputy mayor for the current financial year in the backdrop of a feud between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hampering the formation of key instruments of the civic body, without which is has so far not been able to perform some of its key tasks, as well as the decision making process in the corporation.
The MCD, one of the largest civic bodies in the world, was unified in May last year by the central government to bring in administrative efficiency and financial discipline. The MCD elections were held in December last year in which the AAP emerged the winner with 134 wards of the total 250 in its kitty. The House had to meet in January to elect the mayor and deputy mayor, but it had to be postponed thrice due to political differences that played out in the form of violence and unruly scenes. The elections were finally held on February 22 in which the AAP nominees won both the posts.
However, their terms ended on March 31, as the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 mandates that fresh elections should be held for the post of mayor at the beginning of the financial year in April.
In Wednesday’s elections, the incumbent mayor, Shelly Oberoi of the AAP, will face off against Shikha Roy, a BJP councillor from Greater Kailash (GK). Similarly, incumbent deputy mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal of the AAP will take on BJP’s Soni Pandey from the Sonia Vihar ward in East Delhi.
On Monday, lieutenant governor VK Saxena approved the name of the senior most councillor and AAP leader of the House, Mukesh Goyal, to preside over the session on Wednesday.
According to a senior municipal corporation official, all candidates can withdraw their names from the contest until the proceedings begin and a general call-in is made.
“Goyal will then oversee the election process for the mayor via secret ballot. We have installed polling booths inside the House chamber to keep the process secret. The mayor will preside over the deputy mayor elections once the new mayor is elected,” the official added.
The mayoral polls are being held at a time when the municipal corporation is in a limbo with the civic body yet to elect the powerful Standing Committee, which controls the civic body’s purse stings, and zonal ward committees, which play an important role in local civic governance. 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 hearing a petition by the AAP challenging the nomination of 10 aldermen by the LG.
The high court on Monday allowed the mayor file a response to the plea and listed the matter for May 3, while the Supreme Court listed the matter for May 2.
On Tuesday, AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said the people of Delhi have given AAP a clear mandate, and that the AAP candidate for mayor will be elected. “The BJP is attempting to get AAP councillors to their side, but neither the Delhi government nor its municipal wing is going to be affected by their ploy. They tried every trick last time, too, but AAP’s candidate will be elected mayor again,” he added.
Delhi BJP spokesperson, Praveen Shankar Kapoor, said the party anticipates a fair election in which the presiding officer does not play a partisan role, and acts per constitutional precedents. “Due to the AAP’s anarchy, the corporation’s administration and development work have come to a halt. They are preventing the formation of MCD’s standing committee. They must understand that without the formation of the standing committee, no administrative work of MCD is possible,” he said.
MCD elections for mayor and deputy mayor are held by secret ballot, and anti-defection laws do not apply. The electoral college is made up of 250 elected councillors, 14 MLAs, and 10 MPs. After winning 134 of the 250 municipal wards in the December 4 civic elections, the AAP had a clear numerical advantage.
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Sunita, an AAP councillor from Dwarka C ward, joined the BJP on Monday in the presence of senior BJP leaders from Delhi. The AAP has nominated 13 MLAs, while the BJP has nominated one. However, Kalkaji MLA Atishi has been replaced by Mehrauli MLA Naresh Kumar. Similarly, the BJP has seven Lok Sabha MPs and the AAP has three Rajya Sabha MPs. AAP has 150 votes in a 274-member electoral college, assuming no cross-voting.
In MCD’s history, only eight mayors have served for more than a year, and if elected, Oberoi will be the ninth such mayor.
According to MCD records, Shamnath was mayor of Delhi from 1960 to 1962, followed by Nuruddin Ahmen (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). MCD had 30 mayors until 2022 after its trifurcation in 2012, but none was re-elected for a second term.
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