Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 17: The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the date of the elections to choose the mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) must be announced by Vinai Kumar Saxena, the LG of Delhi, within 24 hours.
A bench consisting of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha, and JB Pardiwala made it clear that members nominated by the LG to the MCD are not eligible to participate in or cast votes in the election for mayor.
The Bench issued the following directions:
– At the first meeting of MCD election shall be held of post of mayor. In that meeting, nominated members shall not have the right to vote;
– After mayor being elected, he shall be the presiding officer for electing deputy mayor;
– Notice for the election of mayor and first meeting of MCD shall be issued within 24 hours and notice shall fix the date on which election of mayor, deupty mayor and standing committee members shall be held in terms of above direction;
-Alderman cannot vote.
The instructions were given in response to a petition filed by Shelly Oberoi of the Aam Aadmi Party against the LG’s decision to permit members of the MCD that he had nominated to vote in the elections for mayor and deputy mayor.
Despite electing members of its municipal government in December of last year, Delhi still lacks a mayor. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 104 of the 250 wards, while the AAP had won 134. December 7, 2022 saw the announcement of the results.
In the past two MCD meetings, there were conflict between the AAP and BJP council members.
