Delhi Mayor poll: BJP’s Parvesh Wahi sure to win tomorrow​

New Delhi, April 28 BJP councillor from Rohini-East ward Parvesh Wahi is all set to be formally elected as MCD’s new mayor on April 29, as his challenger Haji Zarif’s Congress party has just nine members in the 273-member Corporation, and the AAP has decided not to contest the election.​

Wahi needs 137 votes to win the mayoral elections, and his party has the support of 157 councillors, a BJP leader said.​

On the eve of the mayoral elections, a special meeting was held on Tuesday at the Delhi BJP office under the leadership of Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva. All attending councillors and MPs were trained on the voting procedure for the election.​

Along with the mayoral election, councillors are also slated to pick a new Deputy Mayor and three members of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Wednesday.​

For the Deputy Mayor’s post, the BJP has nominated Monika Pant, a councillor from ward number 206, Anand Vihar, according to a statement issued by the Delhi BJP.​

The BJP has fielded Jaibhagwan Yadav, a councillor from ward 27, Begampur, as its candidate for the posts of Leader of the House and member of the Standing Committee.​

The BJP also nominated Paharganj councillor Manish Chadha for the Standing Committee election.​

Wahi, 59, won the 2022 civic elections with a huge margin. He is currently the Leader of the House in MCD.​

Delhi AAP convenor Saurabh Bharadwaj announced earlier this month that the party will not contest the Mayoral election.​

Apart from nominating Kabir Nagar councillor Zarif for the Mayor’s post, the Congress has fielded Mubaraknagar councillor Rajesh Kumar Gupta for the post of Deputy Mayor in Wednesday’s election in the political wing of his civic agency.​

The Congress has appealed to councillors from all parties for a conscience vote on Wednesday, hoping to benefit from possible cross-voting.​

In the last Mayoral elections in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, BJP’s Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh bagged the top civic post. Iqbal was pitted against Congress’s Mandeep Singh.​

The AAP, which has already decided to abstain from Wednesday’s mayoral election by not fielding a nominee, has backed out of the contest as it has realised that the BJP has a numerical superiority in the civic House, said a Delhi BJP leader.​

Taking a jibe at the AAP, the BJP's mayoral candidate Wahi earlier told IANS, "We thank them (AAP). Even though we (BJP) have a full majority, we still thank them and politely accept their decision."​

"Sensing their position (AAP) in the democracy (right now), they have taken an appropriate decision," he said.​

--IANS

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