The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will meet on Wednesday to elect a new mayor and deputy mayor. The last mayoral elections were held amid high-voltage drama and violence on February 22. MCD elections were held in December 2022, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 134 wards out of a total of 250.
The MCD house was to convene in January to select the mayor and deputy mayor after the polls concluded in December. However, the mayoral elections were postponed thrice due to the tussle between the BJP and AAP that also resulted in violent scenes on the House floor. The ruckus was created due to voting rights being given to 10 aldermen or nominated members by the presiding officer. Then two AAP MLAs were also asked to leave the House due to past cases against them.
Traditionally, nominated members do not have the power to cast votes. The present Delhi mayor, Shelly Oberoi, had then approached the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the aldermen cannot vote in the Mayor polls.
The ten nominated members would have increased the numbers for BJP to 123 from 113. The majority mark stands at 138.
After a delay of more than a month, the elections were held on February 22, and Shelly Oberoi was elected the new mayor, and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal took over as the deputy mayor.
However, their term expired with the previous financial year on March 31.
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The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act of 1957 mandates that fresh elections should be held for the position of mayor at the beginning of the new financial year in April.
In today's polls, the current mayor, Shelly Oberoi of the AAP, is set to compete with BJP's Shikha Roy, a councillor from Delhi's Greater Kailash.
Deputy mayor, Aaley Mohammad Iqbal from AAP, will contest against East Delhi's Soni Pandey from the Sonia Vihar ward from BJP.
AAP leader of the House, Mukesh Goyal, who is also the most experienced member of the House, will oversee the elections proceedings.
Following a delayed election in February, the MCD is yet to elect two important committees that oversee local civic governance-- the Standing Committee that controls finances and the zonal ward committees that look after civic governance.
The elections will be conducted via a secret ballot. Anti-defection laws are not applicable in these elections, and the electoral college has 250 elected councillors, 14 MLAs, and 10 MPs.
