New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Shelly Oberoi was re-elected the mayor of Delhi on Wednesday after BJP candidate Shikha Rai withdrew nomination.
Delhi gets a new mayor after the end of a financial year.
The mayor’s post in the capital sees five single-year terms on a rotational basis. The first year is reserved for women, the second for the open category, the third for the reserved category and the remaining two years again for the open class. However, terms have been extended in the past.
Oberoi’s first tenure as mayor was unusually short as she was elected the first time on 23 February after AAP won the high-stakes elections in December last year — ending the BJP’s 15-year run at the capital’s civic body.
First-time councillor, Oberoi was first elected mayor in February, ending a months-long fight between the ruling AAP and Opposition BJP over voting rights to nominated members.
Oberoi was elected a councillor from the Delhi East Patel Nagar ward — which is a BJP stronghold. In the February mayoral polls, she got 150 of the total 266 votes cast, while BJP nominee Rekha Gupta got 116 votes. The ruling AAP also won the deputy mayor’s post too, with candidate Aaley Mohammad Iqbal bagging 147 votes to Kamal Bagri’s (BJP) 116.
AAP’s Aaley Mohammed Iqbal was also re-elected as deputy mayor Wednesday.
After their unopposed win, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked them to work hard to meet the people’s hopes, as they have “huge expectations from us”.
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