The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Friday, announced the name of Dr. Shelly Oberoi, a councillor from ward number 86 of Patel Nagar constituency, as the party’s candidate for the post of mayor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Aale Mohammad Iqbal will be the AAP’s candidate for the post of deputy mayor in the civic body.
The election to pick Delhi’s next mayor and deputy mayor is scheduled to be held on January 6 next year.
The names of the party candidates for the said posts, which were finalised during a meeting of the PAC held at the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, were announced at a press conference by Pankaj Gupta, national secretary of AAP.
The AAP PAC, which met here to decide the candidates for MCD’s leadership positions, besides the candidature for mayor and deputy mayor, cleared the names of four candidates for the membership of the Standing Committee of the MCD.
Announcing the party’s decision, AAP national secretary Pankaj Gupta said, “The party has nominated Dr. Shelly Oberoi from Ward 86 in Patel Nagar Assembly for the post of Mayor and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal from Ward 76 in Matia Mahal Assembly for the post of Deputy Mayor. I would like to congratulate all the candidates on the behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party and hope that they live up to the expectations of Delhiites.”
On the occasion, mayoral candidate Dr. Shelly Oberoi stated, “For the last 15 years, BJP had been turning Delhi into a huge dumpster, AAP has now taken the onus to clean it.”
The mayoral candidate is a former Delhi University professor and a first-time councillor who won the Delhi civic body poll from the BJP stronghold. Aale Mohammad Iqbal is the son of MLA and AAP leader Shoaib Iqbal from Matia Mahal constituency. He won by the biggest margin of over 17,000 votes.
The four candidates selected by AAP for the election of the standing committee members are: Mohammad Aamil Malik from Sri Ram Colony, Raminder Kaur from Fateh Nagar, Mohini Jeenwal from Sunder Nagri, and Sarika Chaudhary from Daryaganj.
Chief Minister Kejriwal congratulated all the candidates on the occasion and motivated them to work in the interest of Delhiites.
“Congratulations n best wishes to AAP candidates @OberoiShelly n @AaleyIqbal Afor Mayor n Dy Mayor n AAP members Standing Committee members @SarikaSamar, @iRaminderKaur, @MohiniJeenwal n Aamil Malik. God bless u all to make our beloved Del clean,” said Delhi Chief Minister in a tweet after the announcement.
At the first MCD meeting to be held on January 6, the 250 municipal councillors will take oath and elect the mayor and deputy mayor besides six members of the standing committee. The post of the mayor is reserved for a female councillor in the first of the MCD’s five-year tenure.
However, party’s national secretary Pankaj Gupta said Shelly Oberoi will remain on the post for three months only. After the mayor is elected on January 6, she will remain in office till April. The election of mayor will be held again in April.
The electoral college for the election of mayor includes 250 elected councillors, seven members of the Lok Sabha, three members of the Rajya Sabha and 1/5th of the members of the Delhi Assembly (13 MLAs) nominated by the Speaker by rotation every year.
On December 7, the AAP stormed to power in the MCD, ending the 15-year long rule of the BJP by winning 134 of 250 wards while the BJP bagged 104 seats. The Congress finished a poor third with nine seats while Independents got three wards.
The MCD polls held on December 4 witnessed a low turnout as compared to the 2017 polls with 50.48 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise, officials said. The voting percentage in 2017 was 53 per cent.
Earlier this year, the Central government unified the three corporations – East Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and North Delhi Municipal Corporation – into one MCD.
After a Union Home Ministry notification, the total number of MCD wards in Delhi was reduced to 250 from earlier 272. As many as 42 wards are in the reserved category.