The much-anticipated election for the post of Delhi's mayor scheduled for tomorrow is expected to be a stormy affair with the Aam Aadmi Party, which won the polls to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which came second, both claiming that their respective candidate would emerge victorious.
The AAP has named Shelly Oberoi as its candidate for the election to the post of mayor while the rival BJP has fielded Rekha Gupta in the contest. Besides the mayor, the deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee are to be elected in the meeting of the MCD, elections which were held in December. The session will begin at 11 am on Tuesday, and the first item on the agenda is the swearing-in of elected councillors followed by that of the nominated members.
The AAP emerged victorious in the elections, ending a 15-year rule of the BJP in the civic body. It won 134 seats out of a total of 250 seats and has a majority in the MCD House. However, it has been anything but easy for the AAP to get its nominees elected to the key posts in the MCD, given that the BJP won a substantial number of seats at 104, enough for the party to try and create hurdles in the way of the AAP.
A major point of contention between the AAP and the BJP, which led to a ruckus in the previous meeting held to elect the mayor, is the appointment of ten aldermen in the House by Lt Governor of Delhi V K Saxena. Although it has a majority, the AAP has been wary of BJP's moves and had in the previous meeting opposed the oath of the nominated members, fearing that they could have a role to play in the mayor's election.
The MCD's meeting on January six had witnessed uproarious scenes with members of the AAP and the BJP clashing and the agenda of the election of mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee remaining unfulfilled.
