New Delhi: The Delhi municipal House is set to convene on Monday to elect a mayor for the city after failing to complete the poll in two previous attempts. it’s been two months since the municipal elections were held, and Delhi is still to get a mayor.
According to the DMC Act 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first House that convenes after the civic polls. The first two sessions that were held on January 6 and January 24 were adjourned by the presiding officer without electing a mayor after a ruckus between the members of the BJP and the AAP.
While the first session of the 250-member House after the December 4 poll went in vain, the nominated members followed by elected members took oath in the second session. Following the oath-taking exercise, Presiding Officer and BJP councillor Satya Sharma adjourned the second municipal House until the next date.
While BJP members had walked out of the chamber shouting anti-AAP and anti-Arvind Kejriwal slogans, the AAP members held a peaceful protest in the House for nearly five hours, as per PTI.
Before dispersing from the Civic Centre, senior leaders of AAP, including Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told reporters after emerging from the House that by “not allowing” the mayoral election to take place, the BJP was “strangulating democracy” and “starting a dangerous tradition”, PTI reported.
In an appeal to Lt Governor V K Saxena, AAP leader, and party MLA Atishi had asked to ensure the election for mayor, deputy mayor, and six members of the standing committee is held at the earliest.
Later, AAP’s mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi moved Supreme Court on the delay in holding the mayoral election. The civic polls were held on December 4 and the counting of votes took place on December 7. AAP ended the BJP’s 15-year rule in the civic body and emerged as a winner in the polls, bagging 134 wards.
The Bharatiya Janata Party managed to win 104 wards to finish second, while the Congress ended up with nine seats in the municipal House which will convene on February 6 for the third time after the 2022 civic polls. BJP’s mayoral candidate is Rekha Gupta.
The nominees for the post of deputy mayor are Aaley Mohammad Iqbal (AAP) and Kamal Bagri (BJP). Besides the mayor and deputy mayor, six members of the MCD’s standing committee are also scheduled to be elected during the municipal house, as reported by PTI.
The post of mayor in Delhi sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for the open category, the third for reserved category, and the remaining two also being in the open category.