After Three Failed Attempts, AAP's Shelly Oberoi Elected As Delhi's New Mayor

Shelly Oberoi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been elected as the new mayor of Delhi's Municipal Corporation.

In the mayoral poll held at the first meeting of the newly elected Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Oberoi defeated BJP councilor Rekha Gupta by 34 votes.

Security was tightened at the municipal house and Civic Centre premises ahead of the election, with several civil defence personnel, including women members, being deployed in the House chamber.

The election to the top post was carried out after three previous failed attempts.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena gave his approval to convene the municipal House for the mayoral election after a 17 February order from the apex court.

The court had ordered the issuance of a notice within 24 hours for convening the first meeting of the MCD to fix the date of elections for the mayor, the deputy mayor, and the members of the standing committee of the civic body.

The order came after a plea was moved by the AAP's mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi, who had sought early conduct of the election.

The first meeting of the newly elected 250-member MCD House on 6 January was adjourned following a ruckus between the AAP and BJP members.

The two successive meetings on 24 January and 6 February were also adjourned without electing the mayor and the deputy mayor, amid loud protests by AAP councillors over the presiding officer's decision to administer oath to the 10 aldermen first.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House after the civic polls.

Shelly Oberoi will hold the mayoral post only for a short period of time, and in April 2023, a new mayor will be elected.

However, stating that she would like to make impact during her brief tenure, she added that her first line of business would be to inspect the three landfill sites in Delhi.

The work on reducing the three legacy landfills in Delhi has been underway. From May to September 2022, legacy waste at the three landfill sites in Ghazipur, Bhalaswa, and Okhla was significantly decreased from 229.1 lakh million tonnes (mt) in May 2022 to 203 lakh mt.

The MCD had cleared 8.3 per cent of the original legacy waste until March 2021, which increased to 17.17 per cent by April 2022.

As of 14 February 2023 the clearance of legacy waste has further gone up to 27.22 per cent.

(with inputs from PTI)