New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) The race for the post of New Delhi mayor has officially begun with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) announcing April 25 as the date for the mayoral polls.

With several AAP councillors defecting over the past few months, the BJP’s strength in the MCD has risen to 119.

Both MPs and MLAs nominated to the MCD are eligible to vote in the elections for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor.

According to a notice issued by the MCD Secretary’s Office on Friday, the corporation will hold its ordinary meeting on April 25, during which the elections for mayor and deputy mayor will be conducted at 2 pm.

Nominations will begin on April 15 and close on April 21 at 5 pm. Candidates may withdraw their nominations at any time before the election.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had won control of the MCD in the 2022 civic polls, bagging 134 of the 250 wards, while the BJP secured 104. However, on February 15 this year, three AAP councillors joined the BJP, making it the single-largest party in the House.

Names of several BJP councillors, including Leader of Opposition Raja Iqbal Singh, Keshavpuram zonal committee chairman Yogesh Verma, and Shahdara south zonal committee member Sandeep Kapoor, are being discussed as the potential mayoral candidates, party leaders said.

The BJP swept all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in the 2024 general elections.

Its prospects received a further boost after the Delhi Assembly Speaker nominated 14 MLAs — 11 from the BJP and three from AAP — to the MCD.

AAP leaders said the party is also preparing its strategy for the mayoral election and will field a suitable candidate, adding that the party will hold a meeting with councillors to plan for the MCD election.

This marks the fourth year of the current term of the corporation. As per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (amended in 2022), the corporation must elect one of its members as mayor and another as deputy mayor during its first meeting each year.

The Act also mandates that the mayor’s post be reserved for a woman in the first year and for a Scheduled Caste member in the third year. PTI NSM NSM MNK MNK