Shelly Oberoi, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, was elected as the Mayor of Delhi on April 26th in a unanimous decision after her sole competitor, BJP candidate Shikha Rai, withdrew her nomination. This marks Oberois second term as the leader of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.The current Deputy Mayor of the AAP, Aaley Mohammad Iqbal, was re-elected for another term as BJPs nominee Soni Pal also withdrew from the race. The ruling AAP party welcomed the result of the mayoral election.In a tweet, Arvind Kejriwal, the National Convenor of the AAP and the Chief Minister of Delhi, congratulated Shelly and Aaley for being re-elected as the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively, unopposed. He also extended best wishes to them and emphasised that the people of Delhi have high expectations from them, urging them to work diligently to meet these expectations.Shelly Oberoi was elected as the Delhi Mayor on February 22, 2023 after three attempts to conduct the exercise were disrupted due to clashes between AAP and BJP councillors. Oberoi had defeated BJPs Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes. Oberoi polled 150 votes, while Gupta received 116 of the total 266 votes polled.Shelly has made history by becoming the first female mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi after its unification. The last woman to hold the top post in the MCD was Rajni Abbi in 2011, before the organisation was split into three parts.After previous attempts were disrupted by controversy surrounding whether or not appointed members should have voting rights, Delhi was able to successfully elect a mayor on the fourth try.The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, V K Saxena, approved the convening of the municipal House to hold the mayoral election after the order from the highest court of the country last week.On February 17, the Supreme Court directed that a notice be issued within 24 hours to convene the first meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in order to determine the dates for the elections of the mayor, deputy mayor, and standing committee members of the civic body.The order was issued by the court in response to a petition filed by Shelly Oberoi, the mayoral candidate of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The courts decision was a boost for the AAP, as it also stated that members appointed to the MCD by the Lieutenant Governor cannot participate in the vote to elect the mayor.Manish Sisodia, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, expressed congratulations to Shelly Oberoi and the members of the AAP for their victory. In a tweet in Hindi, he said, “The public has emerged victorious over the goons. Congratulations to all the AAP workers on the victory of our candidate becoming the mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Once again, heartfelt thanks to the people of Delhi. Congratulations to the first AAP Mayor, Shelly Oberoi.”
