BJP Poised for Easy Win in Today's Mayoral Polls

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Raja Iqbal Singh is poised to become the next mayor of Delhi on Friday, after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced a boycott of the election.

- Paras Singh

NEW DELHI: The AAP lost its majority in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) following a series of defections to the BJP in the wake of the latter's victory in the Delhi Assembly elections in February.

Although the Congress has fielded Mandeep Singh, a councillor from Nangloi, the numbers overwhelmingly favour the BJP, which currently has the support of 135 councillors. With 119 AAP councillors abstaining and 12 seats vacant, the 274-member electoral college offers little room for contest. The Congress has just eight councillors.

A senior MCD official said that candidates are allowed to withdraw their nominations till the voting exercise begins. "An announcement will be made by the presiding officer at the beginning of the house meeting to check if candidates want to withdraw their names. If the Congress withdraws its candidature, the BJP will win unopposed. In either case, Singh is likely to win easily," the official, not wishing to be named, said.

Meanwhile, BJP councillor Satya Sharma has been nominated as the presiding officer to oversee the election process. Sharma has overseen all four mayoral elections since the 2022 MCD polls.