New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is gearing up to elect its new mayor and deputy mayor in an election that will take place today.
Tight security arrangements have been made and last-minute preparations are underway as the procedural formalities are being concluded.
According to reports, the house premises on the fourth floor of A-block in the civic centre have been decked-up to hold the Delhi mayoral elections.
“Arrangements have been made to sit 300 people which include all the councillors and officers including the commissioner, director, deputy director and others,” The New Indian Express quoted an official as saying.
They also added that a provisional election ID has been issued to all the 250 newly-elected municipal councillors who are set to cast their voting rights to elect the chief and second-in-command of the house.
According to reports, out of the 10 councillors, five are from the Civil Lines zone, four from Narela zone and one from Central zone.
Apart from them, 10 MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and 14 MLAs will also take part in the mayoral elections.
The MLAs, which include one from BJP and the rest from AAP, have been nominated by Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.
Notably, the AAP has fielded a first-time councillor from East Patel Nagar Shelly Oberoi as its mayoral candidate, while Aaley Mohammed Iqbal, a councillor from Chandni Mahal ward, will contest for the post of deputy mayor.
On the other hand, the BJP has fielded Rekha Gupta and Kamal Bagdi as its candidates for elections to the posts of mayor and deputy mayor, respectively.
Gupta is a three-term councillor from Shalimar Bagh and Bagdi was elected for the first time from Ram Nagar.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena nominated a BJP leader as the temporary Speaker to preside over the mayoral election on Friday, escalating the power tussle between Saxena and Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
Expressing "dismay and consternation", Kejriwal accused Saxena of bypassing his government and of "blatantly unconstitutional, colourable exercise of power".
Saxena named BJP councillor Satya Sharma the pro-tem Speaker instead of Mukesh Goyal, the AAP member recommended by the Delhi government.
It is to be noted that AAP had won 134 of 250 wards in the first municipal election held after the redrawing of constituencies and the merging of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) last year.
The BJP finished second with 104 seats and the Congress ended up with nine seats.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Thursday announced that it has decided to abstain from taking part in the elections on Friday.
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee issued a letter mentioning the three councillors who will lead the party in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.