The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday gave nod to the conduct of the Delhi mayoral polls on April 26.
The permission was necessitated due to the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the Lok Sabha election.
“The commission has no objection from the MCC angle to the proposal to conduct the elections of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the MCD [Municipal Corporation of Delhi],” the ECI said in response to a request from the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Mahesh Khichi and Ravindra Bhardwaj for the posts of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively.
The BJP has fielded Kishan Lal for the post of the Mayor and Neeta Bisht for Deputy Mayor. The Congress, which has nine members in the MCD House, is backing its INDIA bloc partner AAP in the polls.
AAP has 134 councillors in the 250-member MCD House while the BJP 104 members.
The electoral college for the elections includes 14 MLAs nominated by the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly and the Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha members.
Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar has already sent a file regarding the appointment of the presiding officer for the polls to Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena.
Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had on Tuesday accused the Chief Secretary of bypassing the Delhi government in moving the file to the L-G office. The officer denied the charge and said he just followed the law.
Published - April 25, 2024 01:15 am IST
