Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: With the term of incumbent mayor Mahesh Kumar ending March 31, MCD Tuesday initiated the process for electing his successor. This year, general candidates are eligible to contest.
The municipal secretary’s office has forwarded documents to the mayor to get a final date for holding the election. Accordingly, the civic body will initiate the process for inviting nominations from interested candidates. Simultaneously, MCD will pursue LG’s office for nominating a presiding officer for the election.
Sources said the mayoral election is expected to be held in April last week. The deputy mayor will also be elected in the same House meeting. “The meeting may see the election of a standing committee member on former councillor Gajendra Daral’s seat, which fell vacant after he won the assembly election from Mundka in Feb. He is among six of the standing committee’s 18 members who are elected from the House directly. The rest 12 are elected from each of the zonal committees,” said an official.
According to Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, the mayoral election should happen annually during the first meeting of MCD’s yearly cycle beginning April. However, the last elections were held in Nov, after a seven-month delay, due to a dispute over the presiding officer’s appointment.
In the election, AAP scored a narrow victory with 133 votes, with its mayoral candidate Mahesh Kumar winning by a slim margin of three votes against BJP’s Kishan Lal. The outcome was unexpected, considering AAP had 143 votes, including two Congress councillors who crossed over, compared to BJP’s 122 before the proceedings commenced.
Currently, BJP has 117 councillors, AAP 113 and Congress eight in the 250-seat MCD. After the assembly election results, 11 councillors who contested won, including eight from BJP and three from AAP. MCD now has 12 vacant positions, including the seat of MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat, who won the parliamentary election in May 2024.
Officials indicated DMC Act doesn’t mandate byelections for vacant positions before mayoral elections. Should these seats remain unfilled before the election, BJP’s prospects of winning could strengthen.
The mayoral election process involves an electoral college consisting of 250 councillors, 10 MPs (seven from LS and three from RS), and 14 MLAs chosen by the speaker. Additionally, 10 aldermen are part of the process but lack voting rights. The speaker has nominated 14 MLAs, including 11 from BJP and three from AAP. With additional support from seven LS members, BJP has a high chance to secure an advantage of 8-9 votes in the election.
Mayank Rawat
