BJP signals Chandigarh plan in MCD mayoral poll; saffron party's game has started, says Sisodia

It will all depend on who can hold the numbers in a close contest, which way the nominated councillors vote, etc., says BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya

BJP supporters celebrate Delhi MCD election results outside a counting centre at Patel Nagar, in New Delhi, on Wednesday, December 7, 2022. PTI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 7

The AAP may have won the MCD elections comfortably but the BJP is now backing out yet.

The party that ruled the MCD for 15 years on Wednesday said the game of mayor’s election was not yet over.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya took to twitter to signal a Chandigarh-like scenario in Delhi where AAP despite being the largest party in the civil polls did not get its mayor. The mayor in Chandigarh was from the BJP.

“Now over to electing a mayor for Delhi. It will all depend on who can hold the numbers in a close contest, which way the nominated councillors vote, etc. Chandigarh has a BJP mayor, for instance,” Malviya said.

Under the Delhi MC Act, the corporation has to elect a mayor at the first meeting of every financial year. The mayor has a yearlong tenure. The Act mandates that in the first year of the party’s rule in MCD, there has to be a woman mayor from among the councillors.

It remains to be seen how the MCD mayor’s poll turns out to be.

In Chandigarh AAP had won 14 of the 35 municipal wards but the BJP got a mayor.

BJP’s game has started: Sisodia

Hours after BJP said the mayoral election in Delhi was still left to be won, AAP leader Manish Sisodia said the BJP game had started.

“Our newly elected councillors have begun getting calls. Our councillors are not for sale. We have told them to make a recording should anyone call up or meet them,” Sisodia tweeted.

History of Delhi Municipal Corporation

The MCD came into being in 1958 under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957. It started with 80 councillors which grew gradually to 272.

MCD has a five year tenure. MCD was unified until 2012 but divided into three (North Delhi, East Delhi, South Delhi MCs) in 2012 only to be merged again this year with seats down to 250.