Delhi mayor election to be held tomorrow after two months of tussle between BJP & AAP

After two months of political tussle and three failed attempts by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to hold the mayoral polls, Delhi is likely to get its new Mayor tomorrow. The elections for mayor, deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee will be held on February 22 after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena gave his nod to convene the municipal House last week.

The Supreme Court had on February 17 ordered the issuance of a notice within 24 hours for convening the first meeting of the MCD to fix the date of elections for the mayor, the deputy mayor and the members of the standing committee of the civic body.

In a booster to AAP, the apex court also ordered that the MCD members nominated by the L-G cannot vote to elect the mayor.


As per the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor elections should be held in the very first session of the House after the civic polls. However, the election was delayed due to repeated adjournments of the House following acrimonious exchanges between members of the BJP and the AAP.
The MCD elections results were declared on December 8 last year.

A month after the high-stakes municipal polls, the House was convened on January 6, January 24 and February 6, but it failed to carry out the exercise on three occasions, and was adjourned without electing a mayor, triggering much political bickering between AAP and BJP.

The crisis also impacted the annual budget proceedings and the schedule of taxes for year 2023-24 was passed by the Special Officer of the MCD on February 15, since the deliberative wing has not come into place.

According to the norms, the schedule of taxes has to be passed by the House before or on February 15.

However, the remaining budget is expected to be passed by the House before March 31, as required, since the new deliberative wing led by a mayor will come into place on February 22.

As per the direction from the L-G, the House that will convene on Wednesday will be the reconvening of the adjourned first House that was held on January 6.

AAP had alleged a "planned conspiracy" by the BJP to stall the process and said it would move the Supreme Court to seek a "court-monitored" election. The petitioner, Oberoi, had moved the apex court on February 7.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha and Justice J B Pardiwala, during a hearing on Friday, directed that the election of the Delhi mayor shall be conducted at the first MCD meet and once elected, the mayor shall preside over the deputy mayor's election.

The AAP had emerged as a clear winner in the December 4 polls, bagging 134 wards and ending the BJP's 15-year rule in the civic body. The BJP won 104 wards to finish second, while the Congress won nine seats in the 250-member municipal House.

The electoral college for the election of mayor comprises the 250 elected councillors, seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs from Delhi and 14 MLAs.

The Delhi Assembly Speaker has nominated 13 AAP and one BJP member to the House.

The total number of votes in the mayoral polls are 274. The numbers game favours the AAP, which has 150 votes against the BJP's 113.

(Inputs from PTI)