Notification on Delhi mayoral poll expected tomorrow

The notification on the upcoming Delhi mayoral poll is expected to be issued on April 12, following which the nomination process is likely to end on April 18.

The mayoral poll is expected to be held on April 26, official sources told news agency PTI.

Incumbent Shelly Oberoi will continue to hold charge of the top post till a new mayor is elected, official sources had said on April 3.

The fresh mayoral poll in Delhi is likely to be held late April, officials had said.

Oberoi, an AAP councillor, was elected as the mayor of Delhi on February 22.

She defeated BJP’s Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes. Oberoi polled 150 votes, while Gupta received 116 votes out of the total 266 votes polled.

The voting was held at the Civic Centre the headquarters of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Delhi had got the mayor in the fourth attempt since the earlier elections were stalled amid ruckus over voting rights being given to nominated members.

The city gets a new mayor after the end of financial year.

The post of mayor in the national capital sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for open category, third for reserved category, and the remaining two again for the open category.

Tenure of mayors have seen extended terms in the past too, he said.

The December 4 civic polls last year was the first after the three corporations were unified into the MCD and a fresh delimitation exercise was carried out, reducing the total number of wards from 272 in 2012 to 250.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had emerged victorious in the high-stakes polls.

The unification of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards), the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards) and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (64 wards) happened last year, with a notification issued to that effect in May.

(With PTI inputs)