AAP's Shelly Oberoi unanimously named as Delhi Mayor as BJP's Shikha Rai withdraws her name

On Wednesday, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) mayor Shelly Oberoi, a candidate from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was chosen by a unanimous vote. Shikha Rai, a Greater Kailash-based BJP councillor and the party's candidate for mayor, withdrew her candidature.

Shikha Rai, a candidate for the BJP, and assigned Shelly Oberoi, an AAP member, squared off in the Delhi mayoral election on Wednesday. The Civic Centre, the MCD's administrative centre, served as the location of the election. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is governed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

On February 22, Oberoi was elected mayor of Delhi for the fourth time after the previous elections were called off due to a controversy over the voting rights granted to nominated members. By receiving 150 votes, she outperformed Rekha Gupta of the BJP by a margin of 34 votes. Gupta received 116 of the 266 total votes cast.

The position of mayor in the nation's capital is filled on a rotating basis for five one-year terms: the first year is reserved for women, the second year is open to all candidates, the third year is reserved, and the final two terms are again open to all candidates.

READ | Meet Pinak Mohanty, whose Supreme Court case got Rs 5,000 crore for investors of Sahara’s society

After a fiscal year ends, the city elects a new mayor. As the Arvind Kejriwal-led party exudes confidence in the reliability of its candidates, Oberoi and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal submitted their nominations earlier this month for the positions of mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, for a potential second consecutive term.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957 stipulates that the mayor and deputy mayor must be chosen during the very first House session following the municipal elections.  

The first civic elections following the merger of the three corporations into the MCD and a new delineation process that reduced the number of wards from 272 in 2012 to 250 were held on December 4 of last year.

In the crucial elections, the AAP had triumphed. It was announced in May 2022 that the three municipal corporations in Delhi—North Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards), and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (64 wards)—would be combined.

(With inputs from PTI)