The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Thursday, announced Devnagar ward councilor Mahesh Khichi as its candidate for the polls for the MCD mayor.

Mahesh Khichi has filed his nomination for the elections to the mayoral post.

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The party’s candidate for the deputy mayor’s post, Ravinder Bharadwaj, also filed his nomination on Thursday.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi convener Gopal Rai made the announcement, saying this year, the mayor should be from the reserved category.

He said Aman Vihar councillor Ravinder Bhardwaj would be the party’s candidate for the post of deputy mayor.

Party sources said Khichi has been associated with the AAP since it came into existence in 2012. He was also a part of the India Against Corruption movement.

The party said Khichi and Bhardwaj have been chosen on the basis of their work at the ground level.

Rai alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hatched many conspiracies to win the MCD elections, but Delhiites bid farewell to the saffron party in the assembly as well as the MCD polls.

AAP leader Durgesh Pathak, who was also present in the press conference, said it was for the first time that the MCD employees were getting salary on time, nearly 3,000 roads are being constructed, and cleanliness has significantly improved. “For the first time, there has been a profit of Rs 1,000 crore in the MCD budget, whereas under the BJP rule, the civic body always faced losses,” he said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls are scheduled to be held on April 26.

Taking a dig at the BJP, Rai said, “In the name of delimitation and unification of MCD, wards were dismantled and recast, negative news was spread, and false allegations were leveled.”

He claimed that the MCD, which was earlier known as the worst corporation for 15 years under the BJP government, is now being recognised as one of the fastest developing corporations. The civic body is gradually developing a positive image in the minds of people with their work in the last year, he said.

“The party is hopeful that these two promising candidates will take forward the development work carried out by Shelly Oberoi and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal in the MCD. The party will work more diligently to meet the MCD target for the next year,” Rai added.