The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday said it will play the role of a constructive Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House and hold the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) accountable for any failure in delivering services.
It comes against the backdrop of the ruling AAP boycotting mayoral and deputy mayoral elections, scheduled for Friday, making them a cakewalk for the BJP, which will reclaim the MCD House over two years after losing it to AAP.
AAP lost the majority after being reduced to 114 from 134 members, with many of its councillors switching over to the BJP, which now has a strength of 116, and three were elected to the Delhi Assembly. The anti-defection law, which punishes individual MPs and MLAs for leaving one party for another, is not in force in the MCD. The BJP has announced Raja Iqbal Singh, the current Leader of the Opposition in the MCD House, as its nominee for the mayor post, and Jai Bhagwan Yadavm, Begumpur councillor, as the deputy mayor.
Congress, which has just eight members, is also in the fray. Mandeep Singh, a Nangloi councillor, and Ariba Khan, representing Abul Fazal Enclave in the House, had filed nominations for Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively.
Addressing a press conference, former Mayor Shelly Oberoi said during AAP rule, the BJP in the Opposition always tried to halt the development works.
“Now, the BJP has a ‘triple engine’ government in Delhi with control over the Centre, the State, and the MCD. We expect the BJP to fulfil all its promises to the people and not make any excuses”, she said.
Mukesh Goel, AAP’s Leader of the House, said, “In the past two years, every initiative brought forward by AAP in the MCD for the benefit of Delhi’s citizens has been thrown into the dustbin by the Commissioner under pressure from the BJP. We introduced a proposal on house tax that aimed to exempt properties less than 100 square yards and a 50% rebate on those between 100 and 500 square yards. The House passed the proposal, yet the Commissioner, influenced by the BJP, did not implement it.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Singh said the people of Delhi had entrusted the BJP with the responsibility of fixing the city’s problems. “We will eliminate corruption and complete all the pending work that was stalled over the past two years,” he stated.
The BJP leader said elections for the standing committees will soon be held.
The electoral college for the mayoral election includes 238 councillors, 10 MPs, seven from the Lok Sabha and three from the Rajya Sabha, and 14 MLAs, 11 from BJP and three from AAP as nominated by Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta.
The previous mayoral election, held on November 14, 2024, saw AAP’s Mahesh Kumar Khinchi win by a razor-thin margin of just three votes.
Published – April 25, 2025 01:10 am IST
