NEW DELHI: AAP bagged 134 out of the 250 MCD wards, leaving everyone guessing as to who will be the next mayor. The BJP, which lost its hold on the civic body, winning 104 wards, hasn’t lost hope about its councillor becoming the next mayor.
BJP’s Amit Malviya referred to the Chandigarh municipal body. Though the AAP had emerged as the single largest party by winning 14 seats in the Chandigarh municipal elections for 35 wards, but it had not won a majority.
“Over to electing a mayor for Delhi… It will all depend on who can hold the numbers in a close contest, which way the nominated councillors vote etc…” Malviya tweeted. When asked who the BJP will field as its mayoral candidate, a party leader said, “It is too early to talk about this. Our party leadership will decide. Today is a victory day, let’s celebrate.”
Sources said AAP is likely to field a woman councillor belonging to the Scheduled Caste for the post, depending on the popularity in the wards. The names will be decided after a meeting of party leaders with the winning candidates.
The AAP had fielded 136 women in the MCD polls, out of which 69 have won, including 19 SC candidates. Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga also claimed that the city will again have a mayor from his party.
The tenure of a mayor in the MCD is one year, and as per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, the first mayor must be a woman, while the third mayor has to be from the reserved category. A new incumbent is sworn in every April. This year, the civic body elections were held in December, so the tenure of the first mayor will be about four months.
After the victory, AAP will select their mayoral candidate for the first term of the reunified MCD. However, if the BJP opposes AAP’s candidate and fields its own leader, then an election will be conducted within the MCD for the post.
As per section 514A of the recently-amended Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, a special officer can be
appointed by the Centre to carry out MCD’s functions till the mayoral election is held. Unlike three mayors and three houses of councillors, Delhi will now have a single mayor and one House. In the 250-ward municipal corporation, BJP won 104 seats and the Congress was in a distant third with just nine seats.
1-year tenure for mayor in civic body
The tenure of a mayor in MCD is one year, and as per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, the first mayor must be a woman, while the third mayor has to be from the reserved category. A new incumbent is sworn in every April. This year, civic polls were held in December, so the tenure of the first mayor will be four months.