Rekha Gupta is BJP candidate for Delhi Mayor polls, to challenge AAP’s Shelly Oberoi

New Delhi: After the high-stakes Delhi Municipal Elections, electioneering is heating up for the Mayor Elections, scheduled for January 6. While the MCD elections resulted in Arvind Kejriwal-led party increasing its influence & control in the capital, the upcoming Mayor & Deputy Mayor polls is again likely to see a fierce poll battle between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates.

The BJP on Tuesday announced its three-time councilor Rekha Gupta as its Mayor candidate for upcoming polls. She will challenge AAP’s Shelly Oberoi in the January 6 elections for Mayor post.

BJP has also picked Kamal Bagdi as it candidate for deputy Mayor post of the MCD.

The announcement of BJP candidates comes after AAP’s dare as the latter challenged the saffron party to field its own candidates rather than supporting an independent candidate for the MCD’s top post.

The BJP also named Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Gajendra Daral and Pankaj Luthra as its candidates for the Standing Committee member posts.

Will cross-voting complicate equations?

The recent MCD elections gave AAP clear control over the local body. It has 134 councilors in the 250-member MCD while BJP has 104 members in the local body.

Though, AAP enjoys clear majority in the MCD, there are speculations of cross-voting and if it happens, it will complicate the numbers game and nix AAP’s chances of winning top post.

As per the law, anti-defection law doesn’t apply to the local body and hence cross-voting can’t be ruled out. The elections for Mayor post is held through a secret ballot and councilors have the right to choose a candidate of their choice as anti-defection law doesn’t apply on it.

The speculative talks of cross-voting apparently came into play over Gajendra Daral, an Independent candidate from Mundka joining the BJP.

How the numbers stand up

In the MCD Mayor elections, those casting their ballot will be 250 elected concillors along with 7 LS & 3 RS MPs and also 15 MLAs of the Delhi Assembly.

The total number of votes for Mayoral election stands at 274. The numbers are clearly tilted towards AAP as it has 150 votes against BJP’s 113. Congress has 9 councillors in the local body while 2 are Independents.

Elections for the post of Mayor, Dy Mayor as well as the Standing Committee will take place on January 6.