In the next Delhi mayoral election on Wednesday, incumbent Shelly Oberoi of the AAP and BJP politician Shikha Rai will face off head-to-head. The Civic Centre, where the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is headquartered, will host the election. In the MCD, the AAP is in power.
On February 22, Oberoi defeated Rekha Gupta of the BJP by a margin of 34 votes while receiving 150 votes, winning the mayoral election. Gupta has won 116 of the 266 votes cast in total. The previous elections, however, were postponed because of a controversy over the distribution of voting rights among nominated members. In her fourth effort, Oberoi prevailed in the election.
In the nation’s capital, the position of mayor is held by a person for five consecutive one-year terms. Women are given priority in the first year, then there is an open category in the second, a reserved category in the third, and then there is an open category in the final two years. The city chooses a new mayor after the fiscal year is over. According to official sources, Oberoi will remain in charge until a new mayor is chosen.
Oberoi and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal of the AAP had submitted their candidatures for the positions of mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, earlier this month in anticipation of a potential second consecutive term. The party led by Arvind Kejriwal is certain that its candidates will prevail.
The Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, stipulates that the mayor and deputy mayor must be chosen during the very first House session following the municipal elections. The first civic elections following the merger of the three corporations into the MCD were held on December 4 of last year. There are now 250 wards, as opposed to 272 in 2012, after a new delimitation exercise. In the crucial elections, the AAP triumphed.
The 104-ward North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the 104-ward South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and the 64-ward East Delhi Municipal Corporation were merged into one entity last year.