Delhi mayor election to happen on Feb 22, L-G approves CM Kejriwal's recommendation

Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has given consent to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's suggestion to hold Delhi mayoral elections on Wednesday, February 22.

Elections for the mayor, deputy mayor, and six members of the standing committee will be held on Wednesday, according to the Lieutenant Governor's order.

This comes just a day after the Aam Aadmi Party won a major victory in the Supreme Court, which ruled that members of Delhi's civic body chosen by the Lieutenant Governor cannot vote in the mayor's election.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sent a letter to the Lieutenant Governor urging that the mayor's election be held on February 22.

The elections have been postponed three times in less than two months due to a protracted dispute between the ruling AAP and the Lieutenant Governor appointed by the Centre over whether nominated members have the right to vote.

The decision came only hours after Arvind Kejriwal accused Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena of criminal contempt of court in a recent dispute involving the voting powers of nominated members of Delhi's civic council by attempting to have his lawyer argue both sides of the case.

The AAP has claimed that the BJP was attempting to seize control of the civic body by choosing a BJP leader to the position of mayor, despite the fact that the AAP was the clear winner in the December election to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, or MCD.

The AAP and the BJP clashed over whether council members or aldermen appointed by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena could vote to elect the Mayor. As the AAP attempted to vote, the house fell into turmoil. The election was eventually rescheduled. The alderman would have increased the BJP's numbers, according to the AAP.

Kejriwal tweeted that the Supreme Court order "proved how the Lieutenant Governor and the BJP have been passing illegal orders in Delhi".

The AAP won 134 wards in the MCD elections in December, thereby ending the BJP's 15-year reign in the civic body. The BJP finished second with 104 wards, while the Congress received nine seats.

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