Candidates for the AAP and BJP submit documents for the mayoral elections

The AAP declared Mahesh Kumar Khichi, a councillor from Dev Nagar, and Ravinder Bhardwaj, a councillor from Aman Vihar, as its candidates for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) mayoral elections on Thursday.

Additionally, the BJP has formally announced its nominees for mayor and deputy mayor.

The MCD elections are slated to take place on April 26. The MCD mayor will be chosen this year from among the council members in the reserved category. The mayor of the MCD is chosen to serve a one-year term.

Kishan Lal, a councillor from Shakarpur in North West Delhi’s Ward 62, has been put up by the BJP to run for mayor.

Lal is within the jurisdiction of both the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency and the Tri Nagar Assembly constituency.

Neeta Bisht, a Sadatpur councillor from Ward 247, has been proposed for deputy mayor. On Thursday, both candidates submitted their nomination documents in front of top BJP council members.

Gopal Rai, the state convenor of the AAP in Delhi, said that the advent of Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP changed the political climate in Delhi for the better in terms of labor politics.

The AAP has been yelling that the nation’s capital has outperformed other cities in every category, including water, power, schools, hospitals, free transportation for women, and senior citizen pilgrimages.

People began steadily pulling away from the saffron party over the 15 years of the BJP’s rule in MCD, according to Rai, due to the party’s divisive tactics.

The most recent MCD elections were defeated by the BJP in 2022. Given that the AAP has 134 of the MCD’s 250 council seats, both of its candidates are expected to do well in the elections. 104 council members make up the opposition BJP in the local body.

“The BJP realized that in Delhi, they cannot beat the AAP. So they came up with fresh strategies to oppose the party. Rai said that Satyendar Jain was detained just before the MCD elections.

Rai said, “The MCD is now being recognized as one of the fastest developing corporations. Previously, under the BJP government, it was known as the worst corporation for 15 years.”

He said that this year’s mayor would be selected from the reserved category, and the party has chosen to run 45-year-old Mahesh Khichi as its nominee.

Khichi is the AAP’s candidate for the Karol Bagh Legislative Assembly in Dev Nagar Ward No. 84. Khichi has served as the president of the Karol Bagh Resident’s Welfare Association (RWA), the booth president, and the ward president. He has undertaken party campaigns in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, among other places.

In light of his party service, he was put up as a Dev Nagar ward candidate. He has put up a lot of effort working with folks on the ground over the last year. The party has chosen to nominate him for mayor this year in light of this, according to Rai. Khichi completed his BCom degree at Delhi’s Moti Lal Nehru College.

The 35-year-old Ravinder Bhardwaj was declared by the party as its nominee for deputy mayor. Bhardwaj has also had a lengthy history with the party. He has served as a councillor twice for the Kirari Legislative Assembly, representing Aman Vihar Ward No. 41. He served as booth president, Mandal president, and local in-charge when he first joined the party. He served as a council member from 2017 until 2022. In addition to being a well-known member of the working committee and appointing committee, he served on the North MCD standing committee from 2019 to 2021. He completed his post-graduate studies at IGNOU after earning his political science degree from Delhi University.

Today, the two contenders submitted their nominations. At the moment, Aaley Mohammad Iqbal serves as the Deputy Mayor and Dr. Shelly Oberoi as the Mayor of the MCD.

The MCD Leader of Opposition, Raja Iqbal Singh, emphasized the BJP’s choice to appoint workers at the grassroots level to these pivotal roles. Singh voiced his reservations about the present administration’s poor growth pace. “Councillors are frustrated by the lack of standing committees and ward committees, and residents of Delhi are equally frustrated with the lack of progress,” Singh said. In outlining the party’s aims, mayoral candidate Kishan Lal emphasized the need for faster growth. Establishing standing committees is crucial to Delhi’s development. We will set up the committees and form a task force to solve the problem of stray animals within a month of becoming office, Lal said.

Neeta Bisht, a candidate for deputy mayor, echoed similar ideas by promising to revitalize local schools and enhance park conditions. “Our goal is to make up for the disregard these institutions have received from the current administration,” Bisht said.

BJP council members Rajpal, Amit Nagpal, Yogesh Varma, and deputy leader Jay Bhagwan Yadav were among the notable individuals in attendance during the nomination process.