BJP begins shortlisting names for mayoral posts in MCD

The BJP has begun shortlisting names for mayoral posts in the three municipal corporations in Delhi, a day after it swept the MCD polls for a third time in a row.

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari will meet the newly elected councillors of the party on Friday, said a senior party leader.

The MCD Act stipulates the appointment of a woman councillor as the first mayor during the five-year term of the municipal corporations. The incumbent holds the post for one year.

The BJP won 181 of the 270 wards in the three civic bodies—North, South, East Delhi Municipal Corporations—that went to poll on last Sunday.

Half of the 104 wards each in NDMC and SDMC and 64 wards in EDMC are reserved for women. The BJP managed to win 80 seats reserved for women.

Among the newly elected women councillors whose names are doing the rounds for the SDMC mayoral post include former Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha president Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Delhi BJP vice president Shikha Rai, party sources said.  Sehrawat won from the Dwarka B ward in the SDMC with the highest margin. She defeated her nearest AAP rival by a margin of 9,866 votes.

Shikha Rai, the councillor of Greater Kailash, too registered an impressive victory, defeating the AAP candidate by 8,163 votes.

In the NDMC, women councillors being considered for the mayoral post include Mahila Morcha president Poonam Parashar Jha who has been elected from Mubarakpur Dabas ward.  Delhi BJP secretary Preety Agarwal, the councillor from Rohin F Ward, is also a potential mayoral candidate, they said.

Veena Virmani, who won from Ramesh Nagar ward, in also in the race. Her husband serves as an OSD to a Union minister, the sources said.

In East Delhi, the names of Shakarpur councillor Neetu Tripathi and Neema Bhagat of Geeta Colony are doing the rounds, they added.

The first meeting of the newly elected councillors will be held after the notification of winners in the election is issued. Mayors, deputy mayors and office-bearers of standing committees of the three corporations will be elected in the first meeting.