EC approves the mayoral election, however there isn’t yet a presiding officer

New Delhi: On Wednesday, the Indian Election Commission approved the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) mayoral elections, which are set for April 26. However, since the lieutenant governor has not yet designated a presiding officer, ambiguity still surrounds the exercise.

According to sources in LG’s office, the urban development department lacked the authority to authorize and transmit the file to LG; instead, it had to originate from the chief minister’s office.

The event occurred one day after LG VK Saxena received a letter from Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj accusing him of missing out on a file pertaining to the chief secretary’s direct submission to LG’s secretariat about the nomination of the presiding officer for the MCD mayoral votes. Bharadwaj asked Saxena to send the file back to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, specifying that the Minister of Urban Development should be contacted instead. Only the election of the mayor is handled by the presiding officer.

According to EC sources, the file was accepted and returned to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi to be used in the election process. The CEO’s office further informed TOI that it will submit the approval to the relevant department and MCD after receiving it from the EC.

Since the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections is in effect, the municipal body had formally requested permission from the EC. “With the model code of conduct in effect, any action that may directly have an impact on politics requires clearance from the European Commission. We had sent the poll date to the Delhi Chief Secretary’s screening committee earlier this month.
EC and CEO Delhi received it after that,” a municipal official said.

AAP has selected Mahesh Khichi from Dev Nagar ward and Ravinder Kumar from Aman Vihar for the mayor and deputy mayor elections, while the BJP has selected Kishan Lal from Shakurpur and Neeta Bisht from Sadatpur, respectively. As a renegade candidate, AAP’s Vijay Kumar from the Trilokpuri ward has also submitted a candidacy for deputy mayor. On Monday, Manglapuri-based AAP councillor Narendra Kumar withdrew his papers.

The speaker of the Delhi assembly nominated 14 MLAs on Tuesday to represent MCD in the upcoming elections. There is just one BJP MLA on the list; all the other MLAs are from the AAP.

In accordance with the Delhi Municipal Act, the MCD municipal secretary’s office also released an agenda for a meeting and elections on the same day. A notice stating that the election will only proceed with the EC’s approval and LG’s nomination of a presiding officer was included in the agenda.

With 134 of the 250 council members in MCD House being members of the AAP, the party has a majority. Additionally, nine Congress council members fully endorse it. In addition to the two independent council members, the BJP has 105 seats. Three Rajya Sabha members of the AAP and seven Lok Sabha members of the BJP will also cast ballots.

The AAP won the first elections to the combined MCD in December 2022. With 150 votes, Shelly Oberoi of the AAP defeated Rekha Gupta of the BJP to win the mayoral election in February 2023. Aaley Mohammad Iqbal of the AAP has been elected deputy mayor.