Farmers Movement Archive

SAD leader among BJP’s three mayor nominees

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta on Tuesday announced the names of three councillors each for the mayoral and deputy mayoral elections in the city’s three municipal corporations — north, south and east.Gupta nominated GTB Nagar ward councillor Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh (North MCD), Sagarpur ward councillor Mukesh Suryan (South MCD) and Raghubarpura councillor Shyam Sundar Aggarwal (East MCD) for the mayoral elections.Raja Iqbal Singh is a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) councillor from GTB Nagar ward. His nomination comes months after the SAD had severed its ties from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over three contentious farm laws.BJP and SAD contested 2017 municipal elections in an alliance. SAD won five seats. Last year, when SAD parted ways with the BJP, SAD councillors resigned their posts but Singh, who was then the chairman of Civil Lines Zonal committee, stayed. He continued his association with the BJP and has now been nominated for the post of mayor in North corporation.The candidates filed their nomination papers on Tuesday, the last day to do so. The elections to the post of mayors, deputy mayors and standing committee chairpersons will be held on June 16.Kiran Vaidya (EDMC), Archana Dilip Singh (Noth DMC) and Pawan Sharma (SDMC) have also been nominated as candidates for posts of deputy mayor in the three municipalities. Vaidya had contested Delhi assembly elections in 2020 from Trilokpuri seat on a BJP ticket but was defeated by Aam Aadmi Party’s Rohit Kumar Mehraulia.Municipal officials said that the mayoral and deputy mayoral elections should see a smooth win for BJP as it is in the majority in all the three civic bodies.BJP also announced the names of candidates for the posts of standing committee chairpersons. Jogi Ram Jain, Col BK Oberoi and Veer Singh Pawar have been nominated for the the posts of standing committee chairpersons in North corporation, SDMC and EDMC, respectively.The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act provides for the election of mayor and deputy mayor from among the councillors of the civic bodies in the first meeting of the House every year. Mayors and deputy mayors get a year-long term in Union Territories.This year, elections of mayor and deputy mayor were to be conducted in April but the process was postponed by two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hindustan Times

08-06-2021

Delhi