The city is likely to get its next Mayor on January 30, with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) proposing the new date for the mayoral elections, according to a senior official of the civic body.
Another senior official said that a letter in this connection has been sent to the Delhi government’s Urban Development Department, adding, “It will be sent to the Lieutenant-Governor’s office after receiving the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister’s approval.”
On January 6, the maiden meeting of the newly elected House of the MCD was adjourned without holding elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, as clashes erupted between councillors of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over presiding officer Satya Sharma’s decision to first administer the oath to the 10 aldermen nominated to the civic body, instead of the elected councillors.
Apart from the 250 elected councillors, the Capital’s seven Lok Sabha MPs, three Rajya Sabha MPs and 14 MLAs nominated by the Delhi Assembly Speaker will also vote in the elections for the office of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor.
‘Suspend AAP men’
Meanwhile, continuing its spree of protests since the first meeting of the MCD House, the Delhi unit of the BJP on Wednesday took out banner campaigns against AAP at 16 major intersections of the city and accused the ruling party of insulting the Constitution.
Leading the protest at the ITO intersection, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva demanded that the AAP councillors who tried to “tarnish the dignity of the Constitution in the corporation House” be identified and suspended. “Our protest is a clear message that Delhi will not tolerate the hooliganism of AAP. If there is a rift between Mr. Kejriwal and his party, why should the people of Delhi suffer for it,” Mr. Sachdeva said.
He added, “Mr. Kejriwal knows that his party is divided because two candidates for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts filed nominations from AAP. To hide that split and defeat, hooliganism was done in the House.”
Other senior party leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, former Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay, and city unit general secretary Harsh Malhotra led the protests in other parts of the city.
