Delhi's next Dalit mayor to serve for just 5 months amid political tug-of-war

New Delhi: Delhi’s upcoming mayoral term will see a Dalit candidate in office, but only for five months as political infighting has shortened the tenure.

The long-delayed mayoral elections, set for November 14, follow a seven-month standoff between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which led to repeated disruptions of the MCD House besides delaying the polls initially scheduled for April this year.

With the elections approaching, both the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP are intensifying their campaigns, setting the stage for a closely-contested battle to decide Delhi’s next mayor.

However, the new mayor and the deputy mayor will only get to serve for a period of five months.

According to MCD rules, mayoral elections are held annually in April with a five-year tenure comprising five single-year terms on a rotation basis.

The first year is reserved for women, the second for open category, the third for reserved category, and the final two years again for the open category.

This will be the third mayoral term since the AAP came to power in the MCD in December 2022, ending the BJP’s 15-year rule.

Current Mayor Shelly Oberoi has started holding meetings with the officials of all the 12 zones of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to review the pending works and projects to ensure they are completed before the elections.

Projects such as park fencing, beautification, gate installations, road repairs, street lighting, electricity supply, and the covering of open drains have been put forward for approval, an official said.

On Monday, Oberoi held a meeting with the officials from the engineering department across the 12 zones. Meetings with officials from the other departments will follow, with a focus on clearing the pending works ahead of the elections, the official added.

The AAP is also working at full speed to complete the projects in time for the Delhi Assembly elections due early next year, sources said.

The mayoral race is expected to be fiercely contested with AAP nominating Mahesh Khichi, the councillor from Devnagar, as its mayoral candidate and Ravinder Bhardwaj, the councillor from Aman Vihar, for the deputy mayor's post.

The BJP, on the other hand, has fielded Kishan Lal from Shakurpur for the mayor's post and Nita Bisht from Sadatpur as its nominee for deputy mayor's position.

The BJP has already gained dominance in the MCD’s standing committee, the highest decision-making body, by securing 10 out of the 18 seats.

However, the results are currently sub-judice as AAP has challenged them in the Supreme Court.

The AAP boycotted the elections held in September due to the "frisking" of the councillors while the Congress abstained from voting.

The upcoming mayoral term, which is meant for a candidate from a reserved category, was delayed due to procedural disputes, including the appointment of a presiding officer by the lieutenant governor.

The process also hit a roadblock as the then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was in judicial custody in the excise policy case, which prevented the necessary sign-off.