Delhi MCD / Election for the post of mayor in Delhi today, Shaili Oberoi of AAP or Shikha Rai of BJP

Delhi MCD: Election for the post of Mayor in Delhi is to be held today. There will be a direct contest between Shelly Oberoi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shikha Rai of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). AAP is ruling in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Officials had said that two candidates have filed nominations for the mayoral election to be held on April 26, including sitting mayor Shelly Oberoi and BJP's Shikha Rai. Shaili Oberoi was elected the Mayor of Delhi on 22 February. He defeated BJP's Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes. Shelly got 150 votes, while Rekha got 116 out of a total of 266 votes.

Mayor post for women in first year

Explain that in the national capital, elections are held for the post of mayor for five terms of one year each. In the first year the post of Mayor is for women, while in the third year it is for the reserved category. In other three years (2nd, 4th and 5th) this post is for unreserved category. Official sources had said on April 3 that Oberoi would continue in office till the election of a new mayor. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, one of the world's largest civic bodies, was integrated by the central government in May last year to bring in administrative efficiency and financial discipline.

AAP's mayor and deputy mayor were elected amid uproar, violence

The MCD elections were held in December last year in which AAP emerged as the winner with 134 wards out of total 250. After this, the house was called in January to elect the mayor and deputy mayor, but during this time the election had to be postponed three times due to violence and uproar in the house and political differences. After all this elections were finally held on 22 February in which AAP candidates won both the posts. However, the terms of the AAP's mayor and deputy mayor ended on March 31. This happened because the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 has a provision to hold fresh elections for the post of mayor in April at the beginning of the financial year.

Shaili Oberoi Vs Shikha Rai will compete

In the election to be held today, BJP corporator Shikha Rai from Greater Kailash (GK) will face sitting mayor Shelly Oberoi of Aam Aadmi Party. Similarly, from East Delhi's Sonia Vihar ward, AAP's sitting deputy mayor Ale Mohammad Iqbal will be pitted against BJP's Soni Pandey. On Monday, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena cleared the name of senior-most councilor and AAP leader Mukesh Goel to preside over the session on Wednesday. According to a senior municipal corporation official, till the commencement of proceedings and the general call-in, all the candidates can withdraw their names from the polls.