BJP wins MCD polls, Raja elected as Delhi’s new mayor

The BJP on Friday reclaimed power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), with the party’s Raja Iqbal Singh, 54, elected as Delhi’s next mayor, after a gap of almost two and half years.

Singh secured 133 votes against the Congress candidate, Mandeep Singh, the Nangloi councillor, who got 8 votes, the Congress’s total strength in the elected body. A total 142 votes were cast during the Mayoral polls. The BJP lost two votes due to the absence of MP Manoj Tiwari, while one vote was declared invalid. Key political figures, including BJP MPs Harsh Malhotra, Praveen Khandelwal, Bansuri Swaraj, Kawaljeet Sehrawat, and Yogendra Chandolia, cast their votes in the mayoral election.

Singh’s election, and the BJP’s return to power after losing the civic body elections in November 2022, was a formality since the AAP had announced that it would boycott the mayoral election. The AAP lost its majority in the MCD following a series of defections to the BJP after its victory in the Delhi Assembly elections in February. BJP’s Jai Bhagwan Yadav was elected unopposed as the Deputy Mayor after the Congress candidate Ariba Asif Khan withdrew her nomination.

As Singh took his seat, BJP councillors filled the air with chants of Bharat Mata ki Jai. BJP’s Jai Bhagwan Yadav was elected unopposed as the Deputy Mayor after the Congress candidate Ariba Asif Khan withdrew her nomination.

“We will try to form the Standing Committee within a month and work in coordination with the Delhi government to ensure people face no problems. Our priorities include making parks greener, curbing corruption and pollution, and scrapping user charges immediately,” Singh said after winning the Mayor’s post polls.   He said the party will “motivate” teachers, provide funds for students’ uniforms, and improve school infrastructure.

 “The people of Delhi have shown faith in Prime Minister Modi and the BJP… We are committed to serving the city through the MCD and delivering on our promises. All eligible contractual workers under BMP will be regularised as per rules,” he said.

Singh was the Leader of the Opposition in the MCD and earlier served as the Mayor of North MCD.  He hails from a family with strong Akali Dal connections. His father-in-law was a councillor from the GTB Nagar constituency, and his brother-in-law was also active in Akali politics. Singh too served as an Akali Dal councillor from GTB Nagar and headed the Civil Lines Zone of the corporation until September 2020.

Singh said that the BJP government in MCD will scrap user charges for garbage collection immediately to provide relief to the residents of Delhi.

Singh said that the priority of triple engine government will be to ensure proper sanitation, desilting of drains ahead of monsoon rains, flattening curve of garbage mountains, improving health and education system, abolishing inspector raj from the corporation on a priority basis. He said that ruling BJP will try to form the Standing Committee within a month and work in coordination with the Delhi government to ensure people face no problems.

Taking about roadmap for the newly formed government in the MCD,  he said that their priorities include making parks greener, curbing corruption and pollution, and scrapping user charges immediately. He said the party will “motivate” teachers, provide funds for students’ uniforms, and improve school infrastructure.

Notably, the AAP had won elections in December 2022 by ending BJP’s 15 years of rule in the MCD. The AAP had got 134 seats out of 250 while the BJP had finished second with 104 seats. The congress party had won 9 seats while 3 independents had also won the elections.

In February 2023, AAP’s Shelly Oberoi became the first mayor and again she was elected mayor in April 2023. Though the gap between the AAP and the BJP was 30 in the beginning but it sharply reduced to three in November 2024 mayoral polls when AAP’s Mahesh Khichi elected as mayor from the party. Moment after losing by a narrow margin, the saffron party had declared to snatch power in the next mayoral elections.