Delhi Mayoral Elections: AAP Announces Candidates for Mayor, Deputy Mayor Posts

New Delhi: Given the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday named the candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor.

The party has fielded Dev Nagar councillor Mahesh Kumar Khichi for the post of mayor whereas Aman Vihar councillor Ravinder Bhardwaj (35) will fight to claim the deputy mayor seat.

The civic polls in the national capital are slated to be held on April 26.

Dev Nagar ward falls under Karol Bagh constituency while Aman Vihar ward lies in Kirari constituency.

Bhardwaj is a two-time councillor and has earlier served as a member of standing committee. The post of mayor is reserved for Scheduled Caste councillors in this election cycle.

The term of MCD mayor ends after a year. AAP’s East Patel Nagar councillor Shelly Oberoi is currently serving as the mayor. She was elected as mayor in the previous two elections held in February and April 2023.

Making the announcement, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Gopal Rai said, "This year the Mayor is to be elected from the reserved category. This time the Mayor candidate from AAP will be Mahesh Khichi. He is a councillor from Dev Nagar Ward-84 of Karol Bagh..."

He added, “Ravinder Bhardwaj to be AAP's candidate for Deputy Mayor. He is a councillor from Aman Vihar Ward-41. Both (candidates) will file nominations today at 12 noon."

The electoral college for electing a mayor comprises 250 councillors, seven Lok Sabha members from Delhi, three Rajya Sabha MPs and 14 MLAs nominated by the Delhi legislative assembly speaker, while 10 aldermen do not have voting powers in the house proceedings.