Mayoral poll likely to be held late April, Shelly Oberoi to hold charge till new mayor elected

The fresh mayoral poll in Delhi is likely to be held late April, and incumbent Shelly Oberoi will continue to hold charge of the top post till a new mayor is elected, official sources said on Monday.

Oberoi, an AAP councillor, was elected as the mayor of Delhi on February 22.

She defeated BJP’s Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes.

Oberoi polled 150 votes, while Gupta received 116 votes out of the total 266 votes polled.

The voting was held at the Civic Centre -- the headquarters of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Also Read: Delhi mayor being 'remote-controlled' by AAP leaders for civic governance, alleges BJP

Delhi had got the mayor in the fourth attempt since the earlier elections were stalled amid ruckus over voting rights being given to nominated members.

The city gets a new mayor after the end of financial year.

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.

"The next mayoral poll is likely to be held around late April. Mayor Oberoi will continue to hold the post till a new mayor gets elected," an official source said.

Tenure of mayors have seen extended terms in the past too, he said.

The December 4 civic polls last year was 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.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had emerged victorious in the high-stakes polls.

The unification of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards), the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards) and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (64 wards) happened last year, with a notification issued to that effect in May.

"Raja Iqbal Singh was elected as the mayor of North Delhi in 2021, continued to serve the post till the Special Officer was appointed, with effect from May 22, 2022," a senior official said.

Meanwhile, Oberoi on Monday held a special meeting with councillors and officers of City-Sadar-Paharganj Zone to review development-related work, the mayor's office said in a statement.

The objective of the meeting was to be aware of the local issues of the respective wards so that those could be resolved with better coordination between the councillors and officers.

Senior officers of the corporation and Leader of the House Mukesh Goel were present during the meeting, it said.

The mayor reviewed the status of the zone's sanitation system, infrastructure and facilities for students in schools, community centres, parks, FCTS (fixed compactor transfer station), and cleaning of drains.

Oberoi said the deputy commissioner should visit their wards along with the councillors. After this, they should together solve the problems of the area on a priority basis.

Apart from this, the zonal deputy commissioner has been directed to hold regular meetings with the councillors of the area, it said.

Oberoi said complaints are being "received continuously" from people that officers are "not working, and many officers do not pick phone".

"Action will be taken if there is no immediate improvement in their working style," she said.