Despite not having enough members in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi House, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced their nominees for the positions of mayor and deputy mayor of the municipal corporation of Delhi. On the final day for submitting nominations, Shikha Rai and Soni Pandey, who will represent the Greater Kailash-1 ward and northeast Delhi’s Sonia Vihar ward, respectively, will register their papers. Election voting is expected to take place on April 26.
A senior BJP leader in Delhi had previously asserted that the party was not likely to run in the elections since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had a “clear mandate.” Despite the chances being against them, the BJP’s choice to run Rai and Pandey for office demonstrates their resolve to run for office and keep a presence in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
For the 2019 elections, the AAP has put forward incumbent mayor Shelly Oberoi and deputy mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal. The mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has a rotating five one-year mandates, each lasting one year. The first year is set aside for women, followed by the open category in the second, the reserved category in the third, and the open category in the last two years.
Despite not having enough votes to win, the BJP ran in the February election for mayor of the combined MCD municipal corporation of Delhi. In the election held in February, BJP councillor Rekha Gupta had lost to Oberoi by a margin of 34 votes, while Iqbal had triumphed over the party’s challenger.
The BJP’s 15-year hegemony over the MCD came to an end when the Aam Aadmi Party won the MCD elections conducted in December of last year. Of the 250 wards, the AAP had won 134, while the BJP had taken 104.