Delhi BJP fields councillor Shikha Rai for MCD mayor poll

Despite not having adequate numbers in the House, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday decided to field Shikha Rai and Soni Pandey for the election of mayor and deputy mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Rai and Pandey will file their nomination papers later on Tuesday, according to a Delhi BJP statement. Tuesday is the last date for filing nominations and voting will be held on April 26.

Shikha Rai is the councillor from the Greater Kailash-1 ward while Soni Pandey represents northeast Delhi’s Sonia Vihar ward in the civic body.

Earlier, a top leader of the Delhi BJP had claimed that it was unlikely to contest the polls as there was a “clear mandate” in the favour of the Aam Aadmi Party.

The AAP has fielded sitting mayor Shelly Oberoi and deputy mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal for the polls.

The one-year term of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi mayor begins in April. The post has five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for open category, the third for reserved category, and the remaining two again for the open category.

The BJP had contested the election for mayor of the unified MCD municipal corporation of Delhi in February despite not having the necessary votes to emerge victorious. Oberoi had defeated BJP councillor Rekha Gupta in the February poll by 34 votes.

Iqbal too had defeated his opponent from the BJP.

The Aam Aadmi Party won the MCD polls held in December last year. It ended the BJP’s 15-year-old rule at the MCD. The AAP bagged 134 of the 250 wards, while the BJP got 104.

(With PTI inputs)