The BJP, which is ruling the North and East Municipal corporations — on Sunday disclosed its nominations for key posts in the two civic bodies. The nominees are expected to be elected comfortably as the party enjoys majority in both corporations’ Houses.
Replacements for key posts including Mayors, deputy Mayors and chairman of the Standing Committee will be selected after the incumbents’ terms end next month. The last date for filing nominations in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation is April 1 and for East corporation is April 2. The victory of BJP candidates in the election is almost certain as the party has adequate numbers in both Houses.
BJP’s mayoral candidates for North corporation is Azad Singh from Mundka — the incumbent deputy Mayor. He was also the deputy Mayor in the erstwhile MCD.
In East corporation, the party has named Ram Narayan Dubey, a Poorvanchali, for the Mayor’s post. The decision of the party becomes significant in view of the Assembly election this year in Delhi. Outgoing Mayor Annapurna Mishra also belongs to Poorvanchal.
The party has nominated Mahinder Nagpal (Wazirpur ward) for the post of leader of House in North Municipality once again. He held several important posts in the unified MCD including chairman of Education Committee for years. The party has decided to retain present leader of House BB Tyagi in East for the post. He is a senior councilor from Kishan Kunj ward.
Purnima Vidyarthi, a senior councilor, has been nominated for the post of Deputy Mayor in North while Mahender Ahuja will contest the same post in East.
For the chairmanship of the North Standing Committee, Ram Kishan Singhal (Shalimar Bagh-North) has been nominated to replace Yogender Chandolia. Chandolia was also the Standing Committee chairman in unified MCD. Singhal has earlier held the Standing Committee top spot in the past.
Sanjay Surjan has been nominated for the post of chairman, Standing Committee, East. For the post of deputy Standing Committee chairman, the name of Mohan Bharadwaj has been cleared by the party in NMC. Presently, BB Pandey, a councilor from Rohini Ward is the deputy chairman of the committee. Sanjay Kaushik may be new the deputy chairman of Standing Committee in place of lata Gupta.
When asked about the selection of the candidates for the posts in corporations, Delhi BJP chief Vijay Goel said: “The names have been decided keeping their seniority, sincerity and understanding of the functioning of the municipalities in perspective. They are experienced councilors and have adequate knowledge of the corporations. It is procedure, elections are held every few years for the significant posts in civic bodies and hence the changes have been made considering the welfare of the people of Delhi.”