MCD Polls: Kejriwal Behind Bars, AAP Picks Faces for Litmus Test, Hopes to Keep Flock Together

The MCD elections will take place at a time when the top brass of the AAP is behind bars. (PTI)

For the Mayoral post, the party has zeroed in on 45-year-old Mahesh Kisich. Kisich is the councillor of the Dev Nagar ward, which falls in the Karol Bagh assembly constituency. For the Deputy Mayoral post, the party has nominated 35-year-old Ravinder Bhardwaj

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday declared candidates for the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral posts for the MCD elections to be held on April 26 in the Capital.

For the Mayoral post, the party has zeroed in on 45-year-old Mahesh Kisich. Kisich is the councillor of the Dev Nagar ward which falls in the Karol Bagh assembly constituency. For the Deputy Mayoral post, the party has nominated 35-year-old Ravinder Bhardwaj, a two-time councillor from the Aman Vihar ward which falls in Kirari constituency. Both Kisich and Bhardwaj have been associated with AAP since long.

AAP MLA and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said both the candidates will file their nominations on Thursday.

This time, the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral posts are reserved for Scheduled Castes.

AAP’s outgoing Mayor is Shelly Oberoi and Deputy Mayor is Aaley Mohammad Iqbal. According to sources, the names were finalised after discussions with AAP Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently behind bars on charges of money laundering connected with the now-scrapped Delhi Excise policy.

The AAP has a simple majority in the 250-member House with 134 councillors, while the BJP has 104 and the Congress has nine. The electoral college comprises 250 councillors, seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs and 14 MLAs nominated by the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly. The AAP has the numbers in its favour as of now.

“We will fight these elections together,” was AAP minister Gopal Rai’s response when asked if the Congress would support the Kejriwal-led party in these elections. However, there is still no word from the Congress on this. Expressing confidence of fending off any challenges from the BJP, Rai said: “After the Chandigarh Mayoral polls, we have seen how the BJP can steal votes. We are ready to face all their tricks.”

The MCD elections will take place at a time when the top brass of the AAP is behind bars. It is also interesting as these elections will come ahead of the 2024 general elections where the AAP and the Congress have entered into a seat-sharing agreement in Delhi. Will, as Rai said, the nine councillors of Congress support AAP candidates?

Even though Congress and AAP are contesting the Punjab elections independent of each other, they fought the Chandigarh mayoral elections together. AAP had 13 votes, Congress seven, BJP 15 and Akalis one. AAP-Congress joint candidate Kuldeep Kumar won the elections after the Supreme Court overturned results following AAP and Congress challenging the earlier result which had the BJP’s Manoj Sonkar as the winner after the presiding officer declared eight votes ‘invalid’. The Mayoral elections in Chandigarh had run into a controversy after presiding officer Anil Masih was caught on camera tampering with ballots.

The BJP has also decided to field its candidates for Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral posts. Kishan Lal, councillor from ward number 62 in Shakurpur, will be the BJP’s mayoral candidate and Neeta Bisht, councillor ward number 247 from Sadatpur, will contest for the deputy mayoral post. All the candidates filed their nominations on Thursday.

Last year, in April, though the BJP had fielded candidate Rekha Gupta, it had withdrawn her candidature at the last minute. In 2022, the AAP ended the 15-year uninterrupted rule of the BJP in the MCD, pushing it to the second position.

Since anti-defection laws don’t apply to councillors and cross-voting is allowed, the upcoming MCD election is being seen as a litmus test for AAP unity — whether it can keep its flock together and ensure that each councillor turns up for voting.