What win in Delhi polls for 11 councillors means for MCD

NEW DELHI: Of the 22 councillors who contested the Delhi assembly elections , 11 won their contests. While eight BJP councillors won, AAP secured three seats. None of the Congress councillors emerged victorious.

The victorious BJP candidates included Ravinder Negi from Patparganj, Neelam Pehalwan from Najafgarh, Rekha Gupta from Shalimar Bagh, Shikha Roy from Greater Kailash, Umang Bajaj from Rajendra Nagar, Gajender Drall from Mundka, Poonam Sharma from Wazirpur and Chandan Choudhary from Sangam Vihar. From AAP, three councillors won— Punardeep Sawhney from Chandni Chowk, Prem Chauhan from Deoli and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal from Matia Mahal.

BJP's alderman Raj Kumar Bhatia, a nominated member without voting rights in MCD, also secured victory. He defeated AAP councillor Mukesh Goyal from Adarsh Nagar. Goyal is serving his sixth term as a councillor in MCD.

After the assembly election results, BJP has 112 councillors, AAP 119 and Congress eight.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi has 12 vacant positions, including the seat of MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat, who won a parliamentary election in May 2024.

Sources said that the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act does not mandate by-elections for vacant positions before mayoral elections. Should these seats remain unfilled before the April mayoral election, BJP's prospects of winning the mayoral position could strengthen, provided there is no cross-voting or Congress doesn't support other party, they added.

The mayoral elections occur annually during the first meeting of the civic body's yearly cycle beginning in April, with any general candidate eligible to contest this year. The deputy mayoral election will also take place in the same meeting, without any reservation requirements for the position.

The mayoral election process in Delhi involves an electoral college consisting of 250 councillors, 10 MPs (seven from Lok Sabha and three from Rajya Sabha), and 14 MLAs chosen by Delhi Assembly's Speaker. Additionally, 10 aldermen are part of the process but they lack voting rights in house proceedings or mayoral elections.

Previously, with AAP holding 62 assembly seats in Delhi, it nominated 13 of their MLAs and one from BJP. They also had the backing from three AAP's Rajya Sabha members. The dynamics are set to shift as BJP now holds 48 assembly seats while AAP has 22.

Prior to the mayoral election, the Speaker will finalise nominations and the party in office is likely to select more BJP MLAs for MCD. "And with additional support from seven Lok Sabha members, BJP has high chances to secure an advantage of 8-9 votes in the upcoming election," sources added.

In the last mayor elections in Nov, after a delay of eight months, AAP scored a narrow victory when their mayoral candidate, Mahesh Kumar Khichi, won by a slim margin of three votes against BJP's Kishan Lal. AAP secured 133 votes and BJP 130. The outcome was totally unexpected, considering AAP had 143 votes, including two Congress councillors who crossed over, compared to BJP's 122 before the commencement of the proceedings at Civic Centre.