After announcing that BJP will contest the MCD mayoral elections, the party picked Rekha Gupta, a three-time councillor from Shalimar Bagh, as its Delhi mayor candidate. The mayor election is likely to be held on January 6. In its first year, as per the MCD act, the mayor will be a woman.
Gupta has been pitted against Aam Aadmi Party’s mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party has picked Aaley Muhammad Iqbal as its deputy mayor candidate.
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Gupta is a former general secretary and president of Delhi University Students Union, a member of national executive of the party and general secretary of Delhi state unit of the party.
The AAP recently claimed a resounding victory in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, deposing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power in the civic polls. In the 250-ward municipal corporation, the AAP won 134 wards, while the saffron party put up a valiant battle by bagging 104 wards. The grand-old party Congress finished third with just nine seats.
Despite the AAP’s overwhelming win in the national capital, the post of Delhi mayor may not necessarily fall in its kitty. The BJP has suggested that the mayor’s election is still an ‘open game’. The party citied Chandigarh’s example where Kejriwal’s party has the majority but still has a mayor from the BJP ranks.
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After the MCD results were declared, BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya thanked Delhi residents for reposing faith in the saffron party and for giving more votes in the wards falling under Kejriwal’s ‘corrupt’ ministers’ constituencies. He said in a tweet, “Now over to electing a mayor for Delhi. It will all depend on who can hold the numbers in a close contest, which way the nominated councillors vote etc. Chandigarh has a BJP mayor, for instance.”
Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga also asserted that the national capital will again have a mayor from his saffron party.
