After three failed efforts by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the national capital is anticipated to get its new mayor on Wednesday (February 22), almost two months after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections on December 4. The Supreme Court had to intervene in the dispute between AAP and BJP that had prevented the election of the mayor for such a long time and order the issuance of a notice for calling the first meeting of the MCD within 24 hours to set the date of elections for the mayor, the deputy mayor, and the members of the standing committee of the civic body.
Due to political squabbling between the AAP and BJP, a mayor was unable to be chosen the last three times the House met. The Assembly met for the first time on January 6 and again on January 24 and February 6 without producing any results.
During a hearing on Friday, a bench made up of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice P S Narasimha, and Justice J B Pardiwala ordered that the election of the Delhi mayor would take place at the first MCD meeting, and that once chosen, the mayor would preside over the election of the deputy mayor.
As instructed by the L-G, the House that meets on Wednesday will be the adjourned first House that met on January 6 but was postponed. According to a notice published by the municipal body on February 18, “In exercise of powers conferred upon him under section 73 of the DMC Act, 1957, the Administrator, Hon’ble Lt Governor of NCT of Delhi, has refixed the adjourned first meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Wednesday, the 22nd of February, 2023.” It states that the meeting’s agenda will stay the same while the mayor, deputy mayor, and six members of the standing committee are elected.
The BJP’s 15-year reign in the civic body had come to an end after the AAP won 134 wards and was declared the clear winner of the elections on December 4. In the 250-member Municipal House, the Congress won nine seats, while the BJP got 104 wards to end in second place.
The 250 elected council members, seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha Lawmakers from Delhi, and fourteen MLAs make up the electoral college for the election of the mayor.
13 AAP and one BJP candidate have been nominated by the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly to the House. There were 274 ballots cast overall in the mayoral elections. The math favours the AAP, which received 150 ballots compared to the BJP’s 113.
