BJP wins 7 of 12 zonal wards in crucial MCD polls, AAP bags 5

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday won seven of the city’s 12 zonal wards after a string of defections and the support of 10 aldermen nominated by the lieutenant governor, edging towards gaining significant control over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s purse strings and leaving the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on a relatively weaker footing with five zonal wards.

Wednesday’s elections were conducted peacefully, despite the tussle between Delhi mayor Shelly Oberoi and municipal commissioner Ashwani Kumar the previous night. Still, the 8.5-hour long process was conducted under the watchful eye of police, paramilitary personnel and riot control vehicles that packed Civic Centre.

MCD has 12 administrative zones, and each of them has one “wards committee” to oversee the local zonal affairs, in what is designed to be a decentralised governance model. Each committee is headed by a chairperson and deputy chairman, and it also elects one member each to the powerful 18-member standing committee, which controls the corporation’s finances. The remaining six are elected directly by MCD councillors.

The elections comprised three sets of polls from each panel — chairperson of a zone, deputy chairperson and a standing committee member. The electoral college comprised of elected councillors from that zone and aldermen nominated by the lieutenant governor.

The civic body said that of the 12 wards committees, BJP on Wednesday won seven zones – Keshavpuram, Najafgarh, Shahdara South, Shahdara North, Civil Lines, Central and Narela. The AAP won the remaining five – City Sadar Paharganj, Karol Bagh, Rohini, West and South.

The long-delayed elections, held more than 21 months after the MCD polls, will finally allow wards committees to convene and discuss issues plaguing their respective zones. These statutory committees are also empowered to approve projects worth up to ₹1 crore, said a senior MCD official.

More importantly, Wednesday’s elections take the MCD a step closer to the formation of the all-important standing committee, which has not been formed since the December 2022 civic polls, consequently paralysing all key projects and policy issues for 21 months.

The election for the six standing committee members voted for by councillors was held in February last year, with the BJP and AAP winning three seats each. However, one of the BJP’s members, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, resigned from her seat after being elected as an MP from West Delhi, leaving that spot vacant.

The BJP now controls nine of the 17 present members in the 18-person standing committee and the AAP eight.

The zonal committee elections unfolded only after drama late on Tuesday evening, when mayor Oberoi wrote to commissioner Kumar and refused to appoint presiding officers for the polls, saying her “conscience does not allow her to participate” in what she called an “undemocratic election process”.

This prompted Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena to direct that the deputy commissioners of each zone will perform the role of presiding officers of their respective region’s election. Kumar issued an order to this effect later in the evening, though the AAP said the LG’s intervention was illegal.