AAP’s Shelly Oberoi is new Delhi mayor

Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Shelly Oberoi on Wednesday won the mayoral election, days after the Supreme Court ordered that nominated members will play no role in the voting process.

Oberoi received 150 votes as against BJP candidate Rekha Gupta’s 116. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia congratulated Shelly Oberoi for winning the mayoral election, saying the “goons lost, the public won.”

“Many congratulations to all the workers on Aam Aadmi Party’s mayor in Municipal Corporation of Delhi and once again wholehearted gratitude to the people of Delhi,” he said in a tweet in Hindi. “Many many congratulations to the first Mayor @OberoiShelly of AAP.”

Repeating Sisodia’s “goons lost, public won” phrase, Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the people of Delhi on Oberoi’s victory in mayoral polls.

“Today in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the people of Delhi won and hooliganism was defeated. Congratulations to the people of Delhi on @OberoiShelly getting elected as mayor,” he tweeted in Hindi.

Oberoi will now preside over the rest of the polls, including that of the deputy mayor and six members of the powerful standing committee, in accordance with the top court’s Friday ruling.

With the election of mayor, the office of the special officer has also come to an end. Special officer Ashwini Kumar held the powers of the deliberative wing between May 22, 2022, and February 22, 2023.

Oberoi assured members that she will run the House in a constitutional manner and called for cooperation from them.

“I assure you all that I will run this House in a constitutional manner. I expect you all will maintain the dignity of the House and cooperate in its smooth functioning,” she said after taking the seat of mayor.

The mayoral election was conducted following a Supreme Court order after three failed attempts earlier to hold the polls.

The AAP had emerged as a clear winner in the MCD polls held on December 4 last year, bagging 134 wards and ending the BJP’s 15-year rule in the civic body. The BJP won 104 wards to finish second, while the Congress won nine seats in the 250-member municipal House.