Unified MCD to elect first Mayor today
NEW DELHI: Nearly three weeks after the high-stakes Mayoral poll of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was adjourned, the process will restart on Tuesday. The first meeting of the House is scheduled to reconvene in the morning at the civic centre, headquarters of the municipal body, where election for the post of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and members of the standing committee will be held. The exercise will give the single Mayor to the city after a decade as the MCD was trifurcated into three municipal bodies in 2013 before its unification that happened last year.
According to the agenda shared by the civic body, the polls will be carried out in the same manner. The elected councillors and Lieutenant Governor (L-G) nominated aldermen will be administered by the presiding officer and the Mayoral poll will follow.
However, the apprehension of clashes between AAP, which has a majority in the house, and the BJP remains intact if the presiding officer Satya Sharma again attempts to administer oath to the aldermen first. Sharma had presided over the January 6 MCD House as well which descended into chaos soon after it began as AAP members protested the decision by him to administer the oath first to 10 nominated members, called aldermen.
The AAP claimed this was done to allow the aldermen to “vote in the mayoral polls” and favour the BJP.
However, both the BJP and the L-G have denied the allegation. Also, the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, does not grant aldermen voting rights in the House. The AAP had emerged victorious in the recent civic polls and bagged 134 seats. The BJP, on the other hand, won 104 seats to finish at the second spot while Congress won nine seats.
The electoral college for the election of mayor includes 250 elected councillors, seven members of the Lok Sabha, three members of the Rajya Sabha and 1/5th of the members of the Delhi Assembly (14 MLAs) nominated by the Speaker by rotation every year. The 10 nominated members do not have voting rights in the House but can participate in standing committee elections.
The AAP has fielded Shelly Oberoi and the BJP has fielded Rekha Gupta for the post of Mayor while Aaley Mohammad Iqbal and Kamal Bagri will compete for the deputy mayor’s post from AAP and the saffron party, respectively.