NEW DELHI: The BJP is set to reclaim power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Friday, with AAP boycotting elections for the mayor and deputy mayor.
Though the Congress said it would contest the elections, the BJP is expected to win the top posts and is poised to have a triple-engine government in the city. The BJP was in power in the civic body from 2007 to December 2022.
BJP’s Raja Iqbal Singh is the party’s nominee for the mayoral post, while Jai Bhagwan is in the fray for deputy mayor.
“The people have entrusted the BJP with the responsibility of fixing the city’s problems. AAP has already accepted its defeat. We will eliminate corruption and complete all the pending work that was stalled,” Singh said.
AAP councillor and former mayor Shelly Oberoi told the media on Thursday, “We will completely boycott the MCD election scheduled for Friday. The BJP has turned the civic polls into a farce.”
The current strength of the MCD is 238, with 12 seats vacant after some councillors were elected to the Assembly. Of the 250 seats, the BJP has 113 councillors, up from 104 in 2022, while the AAP’s tally has dropped to 116 from 134. The Congress has eight seats, while one councillor is independent.
The electoral college for the mayoral election includes 238 councillors, 10 MPs (seven from the Lok Sabha and three from the Rajya Sabha), and 14 MLAs. Assembly Speaker
Vijender Gupta nominated 11 BJP and three AAP MLAs as electors.