Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Monday nominated 14 legislators to the MCD mayoral poll electoral college, with 11 MLAs from the BJP and three from AAP.
The electoral college for this year’s mayoral election — to be held on April 29 — comprises 273 votes, including 249 councillors, 14 MLAs nominated by the Delhi Assembly, seven Lok Sabha MPs, and three Rajya Sabha members from Delhi who will decide the winner.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has already fielded Pravesh Wahi, a seasoned three-term councillor from Rohini-East, as its mayoral candidate. With the Aam Aadmi Party opting out of the contest and the Congress nominating Haji Zarif, it is likely that the BJP candidate is going to sail through the elections without any hiccups, as the incumbents hold the majority.
According to the official notification issued by the speaker’s office, 11 candidates from the BJP include Raj Karan Khatri (Narela), Tilak Ram Gupta (Tri Nagar), Kailash Gangwal (Madipur), Shyam Sharma (Hari Nagar), Kailash Gahlot (Bijwasan) Kuldeep Solanki (Palam), Virender Singh Kadian (Delhi Cantt.), Umang Bajaj (Rajender Nagar), Satish Upadhyay (Malviya Nagar), Kartar Singh Tanwar (Chhatarpur), Ravinder Singh Negi (Patparganj).
The list of candidates includes three AAP candidates, namely Som Dutt (Sadar Bazar), Vishesh Ravi (Karol Bazar) and Poonam Sharma (Wazirpur).
Kailash Gahlot (Bijwasan) and Kartar Singh Tanwar (Chhatarpur) were previously high-profile AAP leaders; they have now joined the BJP in the previous elections.
Going by current numbers, the BJP holds an edge with 142 votes, including 123 councillors, seven Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha MPs and 11 MLAs. The AAP has 105 votes, comprising 100 councillors, three MLAs, and two Rajya Sabha members, with Swati Maliwal recently quitting the party and joining the BJP.
A candidate will need 137 votes to secure victory.
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