MCD Election: Amid Kejriwal Crisis, AAP Gets Congress Backing In Delhi Mayor Polls

AAP has fielded Dev Nagar ward councillor Mahesh Khichi and Aman Vihar councillor Ravinder Bhardwaj for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively.

AAP Dev Nagar ward councillor Mahesh Khichi and Aman Vihar councillor Ravinder Bhardwaj file their nominations for Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively ahead of MCD elections.

Amid the ongoing Arvind Kejriwal crisis, Congress has announced its support for AAP in the upcoming Delhi mayoral and deputy mayoral elections scheduled for April 26.

The chairman of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee's communications department and former MLA Anil Bhardwaj stated that the senior leaders held a meeting during which it was decided that the grand old party would support AAP candidates in the mayoral polls.

"The decision was taken so that the people of Delhi are not troubled and their work gets done," Bhardwaj told PTI.

AAP and the Congress are also contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance in the national capital.

On Friday, the MCD sought permission from Election Commission permission in order to conduct the mayoral polls. It also urged the Lt Governor VK Saxena to appoint a presiding officer, PTI reported.

It is mandatory for the municipal body to obtain permission from the Election Commission to conduct polls as during Lok Sabha elections, a Model Code of Conduct is implemented.

BJP has fielded Kishan Lal for the post of mayor and Neeta Bisht for deputy mayor.

AAP Nominates Candidates For Delhi Mayoral Polls

Earlier this week, the Aam Aadmi Party fielded Mahesh Khichi, a councillor from Karol Bagh's Dev Nagar Ward-84 as its candidate for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Mayor elections. 

Delhi Minister and AAP leader Gopal Rai on Thursday stated, "This year the Mayor is to be elected from the reserved category. This time the Mayor candidate from AAP will be Mahesh Khichi. He is a councillor from Dev Nagar Ward-84 of Karol Bagh."

Khichi, 45, holds a B.Com degree from Delhi University's Motilal Nehru College.

For the deputy mayor position, AAP fielded Ravindra Bhardwaj, a second-time councillor from Aman Vihar ward in the Kirari assembly constituecy.

After being nominated, both the candidates filed their nomination papers at MCD office on April 18. 

AAP-Congress Alliance In Chandigarh Mayoral Polls

It is not the first time that Congress has pledged support to AAP, as previosuly, as both the parties contested the controversial Chandigarh mayoral polls held in January this year, in an alliance. 

AAP and Congress arrived at an understanding, as a result of which the Aam Aadmi Party fought for the mayor's seat and the grand old party fought for other posts including senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.

BJP had 14 councillors out of the 35 members in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The saffron party also had an ex-officio member MP, possessing voting rights.

Congress and AAP, on the other hand, had seven and 13 councillors, respectively. Shiromani Akali Dal also had one councillor in the House. 

This year, the mayor's seat in Chandigarh was reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category in Chandigarh as well.

After the Supreme Court overturned the results of the intial mayoral polls in which BJP's candidate Manoj Sonkar won, AAP councillor was finally declared as the mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

The elections for the Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor were held separately on March 4, in which BJP's Kuljeet Singh Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma won respectively, securing 19 votes each.