Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials declared on Wednesday that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s candidate, Shelly Oberoi, defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s candidate Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes to win the office of mayor of Delhi.
Of the 266 votes cast, Oberoi received 150 votes, while Gupta received 116. The Civic Center conducted the elections. As the preceding elections were delayed due to a commotion about the voting rights being granted to nominated members, Delhi elected a new mayor in the fourth attempt.
Following the apex court’s directive, Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena approved convening the municipal House last week in order to hold the mayoral election.
The top court on February 17 ordered the issuance of a notice within 24 hours for convening the first meeting of the MCD to fix the date of elections for the mayor, the deputy mayor and the members of the standing committee of the civic body.
The court issued the order after hearing a plea moved by Oberoi, the ruling AAP mayoral candidate. In a shot in the arm for the AAP, the apex court also held that the members nominated to the MCD by the Lt Governor cannot vote to elect the mayor.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia congratulated Oberoi and the party workers on the win. “The goons lost, the public won. Many congratulations to all the workers as AAP candidate has become the mayor in Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Once again whole hearted gratitude to the people of Delhi. Many many congratulations to the first Mayor @OberoiShelly of AAP,” he tweeted in Hindi.
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