After two months of political tussle and three failed attempts by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to hold the Mayoral polls, the national Capital is likely to get its new Mayor on Wednesday.
The elections to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and six standing committee members will be held on February 22 after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena gave his nod to convene the municipal House last week after the Delhi Government proposed a date to him.
According to MCD officials, the agenda of the meeting will remain the same as usual. The voting is done through a secret ballot and the anti-defection law does not apply in the MCD House.
Delhi BJP leaders on Tuesday asserted that “anything can happen”, hinting that the party was hopeful of springing a surprise despite AAP’s majority and the Supreme Court ruling against voting by aldermen. Ahead of the Mayoral polls, the AAP issued a statement saying after the rap by the top court, MCD will soon have a Mayor and Government of AAP. Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor also claimed that the result of the mayoral election will “surprise” people, but refused to elaborate on the strategy of the party. A section of BJP leaders asserted that the chances of the BJP mayoral candidate were not “that bad”, claiming “deep dissent” among the AAP councilors.
The Supreme Court had on February 17 ordered the issuance of a notice within 24 hours for convening the first meeting of the MCD to fix the date of elections for the mayor, the deputy mayor and the members of the standing committee of the civic body. The court issued the order after hearing a plea moved by the ruling AAP mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi, who had sought an early conduct of the election. In a shot in the arm for the ruling AAP, the top court also held that the members nominated by the L-G to MCD cannot vote to elect the mayor.
According to the 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. However, it has been over two months since the municipal elections were held on December 4 last.
The crisis also impacted the annual Budget proceedings and the schedule of taxes for year 2023-24 was passed by the Special Officer of the MCD on February 15, since the deliberative wing has not come into place. According to the norms, the schedule of taxes has to be passed by the House before or on February 15. However, the remaining budget is expected to be passed by the House before March 31, as required, since the new deliberative wing led by a mayor will come into place on February 22. The municipal House has witnessed unprecedented developments since January 6. The AAP had emerged as a clear winner in the December 4 polls, bagging 134 wards and ending the BJP’s 15-year rule in the civic body. The BJP won 104 wards to finish second, while the Congress won nine seats in the 250-member municipal House. The electoral college for the election of mayor comprises the 250 elected councillors, seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs from Delhi and 14 MLAs.
The Delhi Assembly Speaker has nominated 13 AAP and one BJP member to the House. The total number of votes in the mayoral polls are 274. The numbers game favours the AAP, which has 150 votes against the BJP’s 113.