MCD zonal polls set for Sept 4

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday announced that the elections for its 12 zonal ward committees will be held on September 4, with prospective candidates given three days — up to August 30 — to file their nominations.
The presiding officer for holding these elections will be finalised by mayor Shelly Oberoi.
The development comes days after five Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday.
The election notification dated August 28, issued by municipal secretary Sivaprasad, said, “The commissioner, in pursuance of regulation 53 (1) of the DMC Regulation 1958, has fixed the first meeting of the ward committees for the election of chairman and deputy chairman of the ward committees and one member of the standing committee from 12 wards committees on September 4 at Hansraj Gupta Auditorium, first floor, and Satya Narayan Bansal Sabhagar on the second floor at Civic Centre.”

According to the regulations, each candidate shall be nominated through a nomination paper in the prescribed form, which shall be signed by the candidate and two other councillors — a proposer and a seconder — and delivered to the municipal secretary.
While candidates only have till August 30 to throw their hats in the ring, they can withdraw their nominations at any time before the election.
The elections to the zonal ward committees will take place through a secret ballot.
Officials said the house will elect three members to each zonal ward committee: a chairperson and deputy chairperson of a ward, and a member to the standing committee — a powerful panel that controls the finances of MCD.
A senior MCD official aware of the election process said that each zonal committee has a different number of members, and voting rights reside with both councillors and nominated members (called aldermen).
“Unlike the house of councillors, aldermen have voting powers in these zonal committees. The election is based on simple majority, and these elections will indirectly impact the composition of the standing committee,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.
Direct effect on standing committee
The official quoted above said that each zonal ward committee sends one member each to the standing committee for a total of 12.
Based on the distribution of councillors after the MCD elections in December 2021, the BJP had an advantage in only four zones — Shahdara North, Shahdara South, Najafgarh and Keshavpuram. However, the LG then nominated 10 aldermen in three zones which had close contests — Central, Narela, and Civil Lines — giving the BJP a numerical advantage in seven out of the 12 zonal wards.
To be sure, anti-defection laws do not apply in MCD.
The remaining six members of the standing committee are voted through direct elections in the house.
Last year, in February, the direct elections for six members devolved into chaos and pandemonium after Oberoi, who was chairing the meeting where the elections were held, ruled that a repoll would be held. Later, the BJP took the matter to the Delhi high court, which on May 23 this year set aside Oberoi’s ruling, resulting in both the AAP and BJP securing three seats each.
However, one of the seats that the BJP won is now vacant — councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat resigned from her post in June after she was elected the Lok Sabha MP from West Delhi. The election for the vacant seat will now be held whenever the house meets, but the schedule for the same is yet to be released, the official said.
A second MCD official said that as per current standing of numbers, it is entirely possible that both parties end up getting nine members each in the standing committee. In such a case, the chairperson will be decided through a toss or draw of lots, the second official said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor welcomed the announcement of the election dates.
“For the past 19-20 months, the Aam Aadmi Party had suppressed the constitutional and democratic committees in MCD. The BJP had been consistently pushing for the formation of these committees, and today, the rights of the people of Delhi and the BJP have triumphed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the AAP alleged that it was the BJP that did not allow the elections to be held. “The ⁠Aam Aadmi Party welcomes these elections. The ⁠BJP does not have majority in MCD then how are they claiming to win?” the party said in a statement.