AAP’s Shelly Oberoi elected Delhi Mayor

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party candidate Shelly Oberoi has been elected as the new mayor of Delhi after having secured 150 votes on Wednesday. “I assure you all that I will run this House in a constitutional manner. I expect you all will maintain the dignity of the House and cooperate in its smooth functioning”, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi said as soon as she was elected as the mayor.

The BJP received 116 votes in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls to elect Delhi’s mayor as the previous three attempts — on January 6, January 24 and February 6 — failed to elect the mayor. “Goondaism has lost, the public has won. The BJP wanted to make its own mayor by cheating. I congratulate Shelly Oberoi on her election as Delhi mayor. Next, Ale Iqbal will become the deputy mayor”, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said.

The voting, which started at around 11.30 am, went on for more than 2 hours. A total of 10 nominated MPs, 14 nominated MLAs and 241 elected councillors out of 250 voted in the mayoral election.

“The goons lost, the public won. Many congratulations to all the workers on becoming the Mayor of Aam Aadmi Party in Municipal Corporation of Delhi and once again whole hearted gratitude to the people of Delhi. Many many congratulations to the first Mayor @OberoiShelly of AAP”, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted.

The polling began with the MPs and MLAs casting their votes, followed by voting by the elected councillors. The nominated MLAs of both parties also cast their votes, among whom 13 were from the AAP and one from BJP.

AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi also cast his vote. In the last election, the presiding officer had barred Akhilesh Pati Tripathi and Sanjeev Jha from voting on the grounds that both of them were accused of corruption.

There was a need for 274 valid votes for the mayoral election. The Congress has nine Councillors who boycotted the election. In this situation, a total of 265 votes had to be cast in Wednesday’s election. Either of the two mayoral candidates needed 134 votes to win.

The voting began at 11.30 am after the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi Mayor election be conducted. The court also ruled that the aldermen (nominated councillors) would have no right to vote. The election was due after Aam Aadmi Party won the MCD elections in December last year.

The last three attempts to elect the mayor failed due to the political bickering between the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party. The civic body met for the first time on January 6, second on January 24 and last on February 6.

In the last meeting, Presiding officer Satya Sharma of the BJP administered oath to the aldermen, the members nominated by Lt Governor Vinai Saxena, before administering the oath to the elected councillors. A plea was thereafter filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi LG’s decision to permit the nominated members to vote, after which the top court on February 8 issued a notice to the LG.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also had sent a proposal to the LG to conduct elections on February 22, which was approved on February 18. As per the order issued by the Lieutenant Governor, elections for the mayor, deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee will be held on February 22.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, the Municipal House has to meet within a month after the conclusion of the civic polls and elect the mayor. However, the election has been stalled thrice over the dispute over the voting rights of nominated members.

The municipal elections in Delhi were held on December 4 and the results were announced on December 7. Aam Aadmi Party won 134 seats out of 250. (ANI)