NEW DELHI, March 22: Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta has nominated 14 MLAs to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), boosting the BJP’s aspirations of running a triple-engine government by winning the mayoral elections next month.
Of the 14 MLAs, 11 are from the BJP and three from AAP. The nominated MLAs vote in the elections for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, due in April.
In a statement, Gupta said that the nominated MLAs would assist the municipal corporation in budget formulation, civic administration and urban governance.
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The BJP MLAs nominated to the MCD are Anil Sharma, Chandan Choudhary, Jitender Mahajan, Karnail Singh, Manoj Kumar Shokeen, Neelam Pahalwan, Parduymn Singh Rajput, Raj Kumar Bhatia, Ravi Kant, Sanjay Goyal and Tarvinder Marwah, according to an official notification.
The AAP MLAs include Pravesh Ratn, Surendra Kumar and Ram Singh Netaji.
The AAP had won the last mayoral election held in November 2024 by three votes.
Meanwhile, the BJP, which won a resounding victory in the assembly polls last month, is eyeing a “triple-engine government” in Delhi by securing the post of Mayor.
A senior Delhi BJP functionary said, “With the nomination of 11 party MLAs to the MCD, the chances of winning the post of Mayor are now all the more certain. Especially as we are already receiving feelers from many AAP councillors who wants to join the BJP.”
A triple-engine government — BJP rule at the Centre, Delhi and MCD — will ensure faster work to serve the people, he added.
The BJP won 48 of the 70 seats in the assembly polls held in February, uprooting the government of AAP, which managed to secure only 22 seats.
According to officials, three of AAP’s 121 councillors in the MCD won the assembly polls while eight of the BJP’s 120 councillors were elected to the House. In the 2022 MCD polls, AAP had won 134 wards, the BJP 104, the Congress nine and Independents three.
The BJP leaders asserted that the party’s vote tally, including Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha MPs; chances of AAP councillors switching sides, and 11 party MLAs as nominated members make it clear that BJP will win the Mayor post.
The BJP became the single largest party in the MCD on February 15, after three AAP councillors switched over to it. Anti-defection law is not applicable on deserters in civic bodies. (PTI)
