MCD mayoral polls postponed; no Presiding Officer appointed yet

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NEW DELHI: Elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have been postponed due to the non-appointment of the presiding officer, the civic body notification read.

An official from the Municipal Secretary’s office stated, “The election is subject to clearance /permission from the Election Commission and nomination of the presiding officer. The nomination of the presiding officer has not taken place.”

The civic body’s order came following a letter from Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who did not see it fit to “exercise his administrative power to appoint the presiding officer without the inputs from the Chief Minister.”

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has blamed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Lt. Governor Saxena for the postponement of the mayoral polls. Durgesh Pathak, AAP leader alleged that, “The BJP got this election cancelled despite there being permission from the Election Commission. The LG office has cancelled the polls saying he works on the advice of the chief minister. There have been previous instances where he has not followed the aid and advice of the chief minister.”

“Since the nomination of Presiding Officer is mandatory as per Section 77(a) of the DMC Act, 1957 (as amended 2022). Therefore, it may not be possible to conduct the election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor as per schedule. Accordingly, under the Ordinary Official Business in the agenda as item No. 3&4 regarding the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respective are hereby postponed […]” the MCD notice said.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP leader, said that the presiding officer should have been appointed by now and traditionally sitting mayor Shelly Oberoi should be the presiding officer. “But the way the Chief Secretary bypassed the elected government and directly sent the file to the Lt. Governor’s office, we can smell conspiracy,” Saurabh said.

The Arvind Kejriwal–led party has picked Mahesh Khichi, a councilor from Ward no. 84 (Dev Nagar) as its candidate for the MCD Mayor post, and Ravinder Bhardwaj, a councilor from Ward no. 41 in Aman Vihar, was picked as its candidate for the post of Deputy Mayor.

The polls to elect the new mayor and deputy mayor of the MCD were scheduled to be conducted on April 26, 2024.