New Delhi, Dec 23, 2022: On Friday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) named Shelly Oberoi (39), a first time councillor who won from East Patel Nagar ward as the candidate for the post of mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD); and Aaley Mohammed Iqbal, councillor from Chandni Mahal ward, for the position of deputy mayor, the party’s national secretary Pankaj Gupta revealed following a meeting of the political affairs committee chaired by AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Oberoi has served as a visiting professor before contesting the election. Meanwhile, Iqbal is a second time councillor and son of AAP MLA Shoaib Iqbal. The post of the mayor is reserved for a female councillor in the first of the MCD’s five-year tenure.
At the first MCD meeting on January 6, the 250 municipal councillors will be taking an oath and elect the mayor and deputy mayor besides six members of the standing committee, according to an official.
The party also finalised six names including two names for mayor and deputy mayor posts. The party has named four persons as candidates for the election of the standing committee members – Mohammad Aamil Malik from Sri Ram Colony, Raminder Kaur from Fateh Nagar, Mohini Jeenwal from Sunder Nagri, and Sarika Chaudhary from Daryaganj.
The mayor who will be elected on January 6 will remain in office till April.
following which election of mayor will be again held in April.
The first meeting of the MCD will mark the beginning of a five-year tenure of the unified corporation and the city’s 250 newly elected councillors. “The election will be held by secret ballot and no anti-defection laws are applicable in case of cross-voting,” as per an official.
The results for MCD elections were announced on December 7, 2022. The AAP claimed 134 of the 250 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 104 while the Congress secured only 9 seats. Three wards elected independent candidates.