Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: The state election commission (SEC) has started the process to conduct bypolls for 12 municipal wards, which have been vacant for the last few months.
While the commission has appointed Delhi govt officials as returning-cum-scrutinising officers for the 12 wards, officials said the panel has also decided to adopt the same electoral roll for bypolls that was used for the assembly elections earlier this year.
One municipal ward, Dwarka B, became vacant in June last year when the sitting councillor, BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat, was elected to the Lok Sabha. The councillors of the remaining 11 wards—Mundka, Shalimar Bagh-B, Ashok Vihar, Chandni Chowk, Chandni Mahal, Dichaon Kalan, Naraina, Sangam Vihar-A, Dakshin Puri, Greater Kailash, and Vinod Nagar—were elected as MLAs in the Delhi assembly polls held earlier this year and resigned from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
The Shalimar Bagh B councillor, Rekha Gupta, won the assembly polls and is now the chief minister of Delhi.
According to officials, the SEC recently issued a gazette notification announcing that instead of preparing fresh electoral rolls for each of the wards for use in the bypolls, it would adopt the electoral rolls of the respective assembly constituencies. It stated that the electoral rolls for the assembly constituencies were revised by the chief electoral officer of Delhi, with Jan 1, 2025, as the qualifying date.
“Preparation of fresh electoral rolls for the above-said wards by this commission would entail a long time besides incurring expenditure in this respect, which could be safely avoided,” the SEC stated in the notification. It added that the supplementary electoral rolls prepared by the CEO’s office as existed on the last date fixed for filing nominations for the bypolls will also be included in the electoral roll of respective wards. The returning-cum-scrutinising officers for each municipal ward were appointed by the SEC through a separate notification.
Three AAP councillors and eight from BJP were elected as MLAs in the assembly polls. The elections for 250 wards of MCD were held in Dec 2022. While AAP won 134, ending BJP’s over 15-year dominance in the civic body, the saffron party managed to win 104 wards.
Mayank Rawat
