Oberoi back as mayor, Iqbal her deputy as BJP withdraws nominees
NEW DELHI: AAP’s Shelly Oberoi and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal retained their positions as Delhi mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, after the candidates fielded by the BJP withdrew their candidature at the last minute on Wednesday.
After the presiding officer for the polls Mukesh Goyal announced that election proceedings should begin, Shikha Rai stood up from her chair and informed him that she is withdrawing her candidature for the post of mayor.
Almost simultaneously, the Delhi unit of the BJP released a media statement stating that its candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor had decided to withdraw their names from the contest. All this happened in a matter of 18 minutes, between 11.15 am and 11.33 am.
Sources said that the decision to withdraw the names was taken by the BJP in a late night meeting held on Tuesday. BJP MPs and MLAs who were eligible to vote in the polls remained absent from the House meeting convened for the mayoral polls.
The election for the post of mayor and deputy mayor are held by secret ballot, and anti-defection laws do not apply. The electoral college is made up of 250 elected councillors, 14 MLAs, and 10 MPs. After winning 134 of the 250 municipal wards in the MCD polls held on December 4 last year, the AAP had a clear numerical advantage.
In MCD’s history, eight mayors have served for over a year, and Oberoi will be the ninth such person. In fact, in the last 15 years, the duo of Oberoi and Iqbal is only the second power pair to be at the helm for the second consecutive term.
BJP stands embarrassed, says AAP
The AAP said on Wednesday that the BJP’s Delhi unit has not only embarrassed itself but also the entire party after its mayoral candidate withdrew her nomination.
Addressing a press conference, AAP’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj criticised the BJP’s decision to participate in the election despite not having enough councillors to support their candidate. He said either the BJP shouldn’t have decided to contest the election or else should have had the courage to fight it.
“BJP decided to fight the election and announced its candidates, but when it was time for battle, it surrendered. That too after going around screaming to the media that the party had the numbers,” Bharadwaj said.
“Their Delhi unit has not only embarrassed themselves, but has embarrassed the national unit of the party as well,” he added.