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Delhi Municipal Elections
Voter turnout in the MCD bypolls to 12 wards on Sunday remained subdued, with the overall polling recorded at 31.3 per cent till 4 pm, according to the State Election Commission. The voting began at 7.30 am and ended at 5.30 pm. Among the 12 wards where polling was held, Chandni Mahal recorded the highest turnout at 41.95 per cent. It was followed by Sangam Vihar-A with 38.62 per cent and Mundka with 37.82 per cent voter participation. Greater Kailash registered the lowest turnout at just 20.87 per cent, while Dwarka-B recorded 23.72 per cent polling. Chandni Chowk saw 27.91 per cent turnout, Ashok Vihar 28.13 per cent and Shalimar Bagh-B 28.28 per cent. The votes will be counted on December 3. The results are expected to reveal the mood of voters in the national capital after the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) comprehensive victory in the Assembly elections in February this year. The State Election Commission has set up 580 polling booths across 143 locations for the 12 bypolls.
The stage is set for MCD bypolls in 12 wards on Sunday, which will be a litmus test for the voters' mood in the national capital after the massive success of the BJP in the assembly elections earlier this year. The voting will begin from 7.30 am on November 30 at 580 booths across 143 polling locations. It will conclude at 5.30 pm, the Delhi State Election Commission said in a statement. A total of 2,320 polling body personnel, along with the deployment of 2,265 personnel, 580 Home Guards, and 13 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces, will facilitate the electoral exercise. Fifty-one candidates, including 26 women, are in the fray for the polls. The BJP has fielded the highest number of women candidates (8), followed by AAP (6) and Congress (5). The election is being closely observed as AAP and the BJP will take on each other again after the assembly polls held in February. The saffron party won 48 out of the 70 constituencies and returned to power in Delhi after 27 years, .
The race for the post of New Delhi mayor has officially begun with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) announcing April 25 as the date for the mayoral polls. With several AAP councillors defecting over the past few months, the BJP's strength in the MCD has risen to 119. Both MPs and MLAs nominated to the MCD are eligible to vote in the elections for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor. According to a notice issued by the MCD Secretary's Office on Friday, the corporation will hold its ordinary meeting on April 25, during which the elections for mayor and deputy mayor will be conducted at 2 pm. Nominations will begin on April 15 and close on April 21 at 5 pm. Candidates may withdraw their nominations at any time before the election. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had won control of the MCD in the 2022 civic polls, bagging 134 of the 250 wards, while the BJP secured 104. However, on February 15 this year, three AAP councillors joined the BJP, making it the single-largest party in the
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will regularise 12,000 contractual workers in its House meeting on Tuesday, AAP leader Atishi said. During a press conference alongside MCD Mayor Mahesh Khinchi, Deputy Mayor Ravinder Bharadwaj, and Leader of the House Mukesh Goel, former Delhi chief minister Atishi announced the decision, stating the AAP is committed to regularising temporary workers in the party-led MCD. "In the last two years, we have made 4,500 (contractual) workers permanent. Now, in the MCD House meeting on February 25, we are set to regularise 12,000 more employees across all departments, including sanitation workers, junior engineers, senior engineers, gardeners, and other contractual staff," she said. Atishi also drew a parallel with AAP's governance in Punjab, where temporary teachers are being made permanent, reinforcing the party's commitment to workers' rights. "AAP delivers on its promises. This decision will be the biggest of its kind in the city's history," s
With Delhi Assembly elections around the corner, the tussle between Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has intensified over the state of civic amenities in the capital. AAP in a statement hit back at Saxena over his letter to its convener Kejriwal, saying he seems to be "more interested in politics than his sole responsibility-law and order" that is in "complete disarray and worsening" with each passing day. In a letter to Kejriwal, LG Saxena accused the AAP government of neglecting critical civic infrastructure and public services over the past decade. The letter came in response to Kejriwal's post on X, where he thanked the LG for highlighting the problems of Rangpuri Pahari during his visit on Saturday. "LG sahab: Thank you for drawing our attention to the problems of Rangpuri pahadi. Our team is constructing a new drain there and cleaning it on a war footing. You visited New Rohtak Road and also told us about the drain overflow and broken road there.
The stage is set for a high-stakes mayoral election on Thursday, as BJP councillor and former East Delhi mayor Satya Sharma has been reappointed as the presiding officer, according to civic body officials. Sharma, who also presided over the previous mayoral polls in December 2022, will again oversee the proceedings, they said. This year's contest pits AAP's Mahesh Khichi, the Devnagar councillor, against BJP's Kishan Lal from Shakurpur for the mayoral seat, with AAP's Ravinder Bhardwaj from Aman Vihar and BJP's Nita Bisht from Sadatpur competing for deputy mayor. The new mayor, a Dalit candidate, will serve a truncated five-month term due to political infighting. Since the last election, the AAP's count in the 250-member MCD House has dropped to 125, just below the majority mark, while the BJP's tally has risen to 113. The Congress holds eight seats and three are held by independents. In the previous elections, the AAP secured 134 out of 250 seats ending the BJP's 15-year rule ove
The Delhi government on Monday issued an order delegating the financial powers of the Standing Committee to MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar, allowing him to approve proposals requiring expenditures of Rs 5 crore and above for various municipal solid waste management contracts. A political slugfest erupted between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Lt Governor's office over the issue as both accused the other of delaying the passage of the order. The move comes amid a political deadlock between the ruling AAP and opposition BJP in the MCD over the constitution of the Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body of the civic body, which otherwise had the authority to approve contracts exceeding Rs 5 crore. The formation of the Standing Committee has been delayed for over 19 months and the matter is currently in the court. According to the order issued by the urban development department, the Delhi government has exercised its powers under Section 202(c) of the Delhi Municipal ...
A day after three civil services aspirants died due to rain-induced flooding in the basement of a coaching centre, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Sunday directed that take strict action be taken against commercial activities being run in basements. Oberoi directed the MCD commissioner to take strict action against all such coaching centres across Delhi which are under the jurisdiction of MCD and running commercial activities in basements, which she said are in violation of building bye-laws and are not as per norms. She also called for an inquiry to identify if any MCD officers were responsible in the incident. Three civil services aspirants died on Saturday after the basement of a building, which was part of a coaching centre, was flooded following heavy rain in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area. "Yesterday some students were trapped in a private coaching institute being run in Rajinder Nagar due to flooding and out of them three students lost their lives. This is very shockin
The Supreme Court on Monday slammed authorities for their failure to process municipal solid waste generated in Delhi and termed it "sorry state of affairs". The apex court observed that in the national capital, 3,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated remains untreated every day. "What is the solution to that," a bench of justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the lawyers appearing for different authorities, including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The bench observed that the issue of processing municipal solid waste was "very vital" for the national capital and there should be no politics be involved in this. The hearing in the matter has been passed over and will be taken up again during the day. While hearing the matter on April 22, the apex court had termed as "shocking" that 3,000 tonnes of the 11,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated in Delhi every day was not processed. The top court, which had perused a report of the Commission of Air Quality ..
The Delhi High Court has said there is no bar under the Constitution on political parties, which are granted recognition by the State Election Commission (SEC), from contesting municipal polls. The court has also said the allocation of poll symbols to political parties by the SEC for municipal elections is reasonable and not arbitrary. The court passed an order to this effect while dismissing a petition that had sought a direction to the SEC here to stop putting the reserved symbols for political parties on the list of contesting candidates. The plea had also sought a direction to the SEC to conduct the election to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without the reserved symbols, which allegedly violated the petitioner's fundamental rights as enshrined under Article 14 (equality before law) of the Constitution. "In light of the law laid down by the Supreme Court, the recognition granted by the SEC to the political parties to contest municipal elections is within its jurisdicti
Civic authorities took 440 demolition actions against illegal constructions in January, the MCD said on Tuesday. Besides, 85 sealing actions and 35 actions against illegal plotting were taken during the same period, officials said. In the last couple of months, there have been intermittent bans on construction and demolition activities due to GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) measures to curb pollution levels in the national capital, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said in a statement. "As soon as this phase was over, the MCD immediately swung into action by resuming its demolition and sealing actions against unauthorised constructions," it said. The actions have been conducted in line with the Master Plan - 2021, Unified Building Bye-Laws - 2016, and the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act - 1957, the officials said. The MCD steered the demolition and sealing actions, "majorly targeting illegal plotting or colonisation on agricultural land", it said. "In spite of GRAP-III
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has decided to reduce the minimum distance condition for opening a meat shop near any religious place to 100 metres from 150 metres, besides watering down other provisions. The move comes after the civic body drew opposition from meat sellers in the city who feared that the new regulations passed in October would adversely impact nearly 6,000 meat shops under the MCD jurisdiction and may even force many to shut businesses. The MCD, in its last House meeting of 2023 on December 28, gave its nod to a revised proposal introduced as a private member bill by AAP councillors Sultana Aabad and Amin Malik that proposed to decrease the minimum permissible distance between a meat shop and a religious place to 100 metres in densely populated areas along with other changes, an official said Monday. According to the revised proposal, the fee charged for the renewal of the licence for a meat shop has been slashed to Rs 5,000 from Rs 7,000 proposed earlier, the .
The Delhi government has decided to increase the minimum wage of MCD employees, a civic official said on Monday. Monthly minimum wages for unskilled workers of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be increased to Rs 17,234 from Rs 16,792. The wage will rise to Rs 18,993 from Rs 18,499 for semi-skilled workers and to Rs 20,903 from Rs 20,375 for skilled workers. Dearness allowance will be paid to all MCD workers staring April 1, the officials added. The AAP had announced dearness allowance for all MCD employees with effect from April 1. A government proposal on increasing the minimum wages will be tabled for approval in the next MCD House meeting. The accumulated dearness allowance for civic employees will be released after it is approved by the House, the MCD official said. The minimum wages for clerical and supervisory staff will also be increased in all scheduled employment, according to the agenda of the MCD House meeting. According to the proposal, the minimum salar
Replicating the 'Delhi government model' in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the civic body has planned to soon start door-step delivery of 23 services, including birth and death certificates and renewal of factory license, officials said on Tuesday. Mayor Shelly Oberoi said the move is for the convenience of the elderly and those citizens who are not tech-savvy. The MCD is planning to introduce door-step delivery of its 23 services from October onwards, officials said. Under this, citizens can request services or file complaints on a toll-free number 155305. Post this, a visit would be schedules with the mobile 'sahayak', who would visit their home between 8 am to 10 pm, and provide information as well as resolution, they said. A mobile 'sahayak' will be provided with a laptop, tablet and internet facility for working. The MCD will try to deliver the services within two working days, mayor said. Following the 'Delhi government model', the doorstep delivery system will be ...
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi has sought details of ongoing and upcoming projects of various MCD departments, including public health, sanitation and environment management, sources said on Tuesday. Oberoi was elected as the mayor of the city on February 22 and had taken charge on the same day. "The mayor has written to the municipal commissioner, seeking all details from various departments of the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi), about the status of ongoing works and projects, and planned projects," an official source said. Shortly after being elected as mayor, Oberoi had said the Aam Aadmi Party-led municipal corporation will carry out an inspection of landfill sites in the next three days and also work to deliver the party's 10 "guarantees" promised to the people before the December 4 MCD polls. The mayor has sought information from departments of public health, horticulture, engineering, sanitation and environment management services, and education, among others. The departme