After ending its 27-year-long political exile in Delhi, the BJP is now eyeing on capturing the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from the AAP in the upcoming mayoral elections in April this year.
The BJP has advantage this time as they have 131 votes in their favour while the majority mark is 132 as per the current equations. The ruling AAP has only 122 votes and the party can reach 131 only if Congress extends support. If successful, this would establish a “triple engine government” in the national capital, with the BJP controlling the central government, the state government, and the civic body.
However, the MCD’s tenure has been tumultuous, with both AAP and BJP aggressively poaching rival councillors. Given that the anti-defection law does not apply to MCD councillors, frequent defections have significantly altered the composition of the House.
Ahead of the Assembly polls last month, the BJP upped its representation to 120, while AAP’s tally had dropped to 121. Following the Assembly polls, these numbers dropped to 118 for the AAP and 112 for the BJP, with three AAP councillors and eight BJP councillors becoming MLAs. Following the defections of another four AAP councillors to the BJP, the AAP now has 114 councillors to the BJP’s 116. Out of the five mayoral elections in a term, the first is reserved for a woman, and the third is designated for a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate. The mayoral elections are scheduled to take place in April, unless they are delayed due to the 12 vacant seats, which were left unoccupied after their representatives were elected as MLAs in the recently concluded Assembly elections. There are total 250 wards in the MCD out of which 12 are vacant. This includes 11 members (seven BJP and four AAP) who were elected as MLAs in the February 2025 Assembly elections and one member who became an MP in June 2024.
Since election for these vacant seats will he held only after mayoral polls, the current strength of the councillors will be 238. Additionally, 14 MLA from Delhi Assembly will be nominated from Speaker’s side who will have voting rights and 10 MPs of Delhi (7 Lok Sabha and 3 Rajya Sabha) will also participate in mayor election. Total strength will be 262 and it required one more than half of the total votes polled for the election to elect the mayor. While the votes of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs remain unchanged, the shift in power within the Delhi Assembly has altered the voting dynamics in favour of BJP.
