New Delhi: Delhi’s main municipal body will conclude in the election of a mayor on Tuesday and the national capital is set to get a woman mayor, following in the footsteps of freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali, who was chosen for the position in 1958, when the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was established.
The mayor and deputy mayor of Delhi will be elected on Tuesday by the second municipal House after the December 4 civic polls.
The position of mayor wielded a lot of influence and carried huge prestige till 2012 when the corporation was spilt into three separate civic bodies — North, South and East municipal corporations — with each having its own mayor. However, last year, they were reunified and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) again came into existence.
The post of mayor in the national capital sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for open category, third for reserved category, and the remaining two again for the open category.
Delhi will thus get a woman mayor this year.
The December 4 civic polls were the first after the three corporations were unified into the MCD and a fresh delimitation exercise was carried out, reducing the total number of wards from 272 in 2012 to 250.
Thus, after the mayoral poll, the national capital will get a mayor for the city as a whole after a gap of 10 years.
The AAP has nominated Shelly Oberoi for the role and candidate Ashu Thakur as backup.
While the BJP has nominated Rekha Gupta.
The nominees for the post of deputy mayor are Aaley Mohammad Iqbal and Jalaj Kumar (AAP) and Kamal Bagri (BJP).
(With Agency Inputs)