AAP’s Shelly Oberoi elected Delhi Mayor after BJP candidate withdraws from race
The Aam Aadmi Party’s Shelly Oberoi was elected mayor of Delhi on Wednesday without contest as her BJP rival Shikha Rai withdrew her nomination. With this, Oberoi has got second term as mayor of Delhi.
BJP’s Rai told the House that she took the step because the election to the standing committee has not been conducted.
AAP’s deputy mayor
Incumbent Deputy Mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal also got another term at the post as BJP candidate Soni Pal also withdrew her nomination. Iqbal and Pal were the two rival candidates for the post of deputy mayor.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the ruling party in the MCD. Oberoi was elected Delhi mayor on February 22 in the fourth attempt since the earlier elections were stalled amid a ruckus over voting rights being given to nominated members. She had defeated BJP’s Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes by polling 150 votes. Gupta got 116 of the total 266 votes polled.
Also read: AAP’s Shelly Oberoi elected Delhi Mayor; party says BJP’s tricks failed
Single-year terms
The post of mayor in the national capital sees five single-year terms on a rotational basis with the first year reserved for women, the second for the open category, the third for the reserved category and the remaining two again for the open category.
The city gets a new mayor after the end of a financial year.
AAP’s Oberoi and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal filed their nominations earlier this month for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, for a possible second consecutive term.
Delhi Municipal Corporation Act
According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House after the civic polls. The civic polls held on December 4 last year were the first after the three corporations were unified into the MCD and a fresh delimitation exercise was carried out, reducing the number of wards from 272 in 2012 to 250. The AAP had emerged victorious in the high-stakes polls.
The unification of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (64 wards) happened last year, with a notification issued to that effect in May 2022.
(With inputs from agencies)
