The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is set to elect Mayor and Deputy Mayor on Wednesday. There will be a direct contest between the ruling AAP candidate and incumbent Shelly Oberoi and BJP leader Shikha Rai in the mayoral polls.
With 134 councillors, the AAP has a clear majority in the MCD while the BJP has 104 of the 250 wards. The two candidates, current mayor Oberoi and BJP’s Rai, had earlier filed their nominations for the Delhi mayoral poll slated to be held on April 26. The post of mayor in the national capital sees five single-year terms on a rotational basis, with the first year reserved for women, the second for the open category, the third for the reserved category and the remaining two again for the open category. The city gets a new mayor after the end of a financial year.
Oberoi was elected as the Delhi mayor on February 22. She had defeated BJP’s Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes. Oberoi polled 150 votes, while Gupta received 116 of the total 266 votes polled. The voting was held at the Civic Centre — the headquarters of the MCD, where the fresh mayoral poll will be held.
Ahead of the mayoral polls, BJP mayor candidate Shikha Rai criticized Mayor Oberoi saying that she has compromised on the autonomy of the Municipal Corporation, public service charter and employee interest under the pressure of the Chief Minister and she will gradually make the Municipal Corporation a department of the Delhi Government.
Rai said that AAP believes in doing every work in an unconstitutional manner. The talk of Delhi Government writing a letter and handing over the roads owned by the Corporation to the Delhi Government is a well-planned conspiracy. The MCD employees themselves are not convinced with this conspiracy because they also know that Kejriwal is trying to create another way of extorting money on the pretext of cleaning the roads.
Delhi had got a mayor on February 22 in the fourth attempt since the earlier elections were stalled amid a ruckus over voting rights being given to nominated members. According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House after the civic polls.