Poll announcement ends months of high-voltage drama, while the Delhiites suffered

Finally, Delhi civic body MCD is going to reelect its civic body after much dilly-dallying. Normally politics start after the election announcements but the local politics in Delhi was centered on the election announcement itself. Since 2012 Delhi has had three MCDs, North, South, and East which are now merged into one as before 2012. Delhi MCD is one of the richest civic bodies in the country which has its jurisdiction spread across 68 Delhi constituencies. For the last 15 years, MCD has been dominated and governed by the BJP. Before Aam Aadmi Party replaced the Congress as the second most influential party in the civic body, Delhi civic body was a two-party affair. The National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) comprises three local bodies, MCD, NDMC, and Cantonment Board. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi comprises approximately 96 percent of the area and population of the Union Territory of Delhi, thus catering to most Delhiites.

The total number of MCD wards in Delhi has been reduced from 272 to 250 after the restructuring. Of the total 250 wards, 42 are reserved. The last MCD elections were held in the 2017 municipal polls, out of 275 overall wards, the BJP had won 181, AAP 49, and Congress 31. As per the Election Commission announcement, the voting for MCD elections is to be held on December 4 and the results will be announced on December 7. MCD elections are prestigious and also an opportunity to showcase their groundwork to the people of Delhi. The announcement of election dates also ends the political squabbling over holding the election. Friday’s announcement of the municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) election dates came after months of political drama. The elections were due in March 9. But the state election office, changed the plans last minute when the then Delhi LG Anil Baijal, moved to unify the city’s three municipal bodies into one. The Aam Aadmi Party accused the center of delaying the elections on a flimsy pretext fearing its defeat in the election. While the BJP justified the indefinite postponement of the MCD elections saying it was aimed at bringing more efficiency in the functioning of the civic bodies. While the tenure of the previous House in the corporations ended in May, the MCD as of now continues as a bureaucratic setup.