Delhi mayoral poll to be held on April 26

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Sunday informed that the mayoral poll in the national capital will be held on April 26.

Incumbent Shelly Oberoi, an AAP councillor who was elected on February 22, will continue to hold charge till her successor is elected. She had defeated the BJP's Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes. Oberoi polled 150 votes, while Gupta received 116 votes out of the total 266 votes polled.

"The fresh mayoral polls will be held on April 26," PTI reported Bharadwaj as saying.

Sources said the Aam Aadmi Party is likely to repeat Oberoi and deputy mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal as its candidates for the respective post. The city gets a new mayor after the end of financial year.

The post of mayor in the national capital sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for open category, the third for reserved category, and the remaining two again for the open category.

The December 4 civic polls last year was the first after the three corporations were unified into the MCD and a fresh delimitation exercise was carried out, reducing the total number of wards from 272 in 2012 to 250.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had emerged victorious in the polls.

The February 22 election to the post was the fourth attempt to elect a mayor as the election process on the three previous occasions could not be completed due to ruckus created over voting rights being given to nominated members.

The unification of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards), the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards) and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (64 wards) happened last year, with a notification issued to that effect in May.

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