NEW DELHI: The result of the assembly election could have a telling effect on the seat share of AAP and BJP in MCD as both the parties have nominated several sitting councillors, who, if they win, will have to resign from the civic body.
The seat difference bewteen AAP and BJP in the MCD is 2 – AAP has 122 councillors, and BJ. In the 2022 MCD elections, AAP won 134 of the 250 seats, BJP 104, and Congress 9. Three seats went to independents.
MCD is also expected to hold its mayoral election in April. AAP won the previous election by a slim margin of three votes, which was attributed to cross-voting. In such a scenario, the performance of the sitting councillors who have got assembly election tickets will become crucial in determining which party will secure the majority in the corporation.
For the assembly election, BJP has nominated 12 sitting councillors and two aldermen. AAP has nominated seven councillors, including the leader of the house in MCD, Mukesh Goyal, from the Adarsh Nagar assembly constituency, and former deputy mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal from Matia Mahal. Congress has given a ticket to councillor Ariba Khan from the Okhla assembly constituency.
The aldermen, who are experts from various fields, cannot vote in the mayoral election.
One seat in the MCD is vacant for nearly a year after former BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrwat became the MP from Dwarka.
Following defections of councillors to BJP in the last two months, the BJP’s seat count in MCD has risen to 120, while AAP’s tally has dropped to 122. No party has the majority. AAP has the maximum councillors.
MCD officials said that it was not manadatory to conduct elections on vacant seats before conducting the mayoral election, according to the DMC Act. However, if a large number of councillors win the assembly elections, the officials said, they may ask the Election Commission to conduct bypolls in those MCD seats in March. “We will need to have resignations from the elected candidates and then we will pursue the EC,” an MCD official said.
Among the sitting municipal councillors of BJP who got assembly election tickets are Gajendra Daral from Mundka, Priyanka Gautam from the reserved constituency of Kondli, Umang Bajaj from Naraina, Neelam Pehalwan from Najafgarh, Manoj Kumar Jindal from Sadar Bazar, Kamal Bagri from Ballimaran, Urmila Kailash Gangwal from Madipur (SC), and Anil Gaur from Seelampur. Daral won the 2022 civic election as an independent after being denied a ticket by BJP. He returned to the party within a few months. Gautam won the MCD election on an AAP ticket but joined BJP only a few months earlier.
On Dec 25, AAP councillor from Ghadoli, Priyanka Gautam, joined BJP along with her supporters.
KS Mehra, a former commissioner in the unified MCD, said the situation will become unstable in MCD if the majority of councillors fighting the assembly elections win. “Already due to the standing committee, many projects are failing to get implemented. People usually complain about the non-completion of tasks, but it is difficult to explain to them the reasons every time,” Mehra said.
Trump had pledged cooperation with India to deepen the strategic partnership, including through Quad in the Indo-Pacific. Trump sought a fair trading relationship with India, in line with his commitment to reduce the trade deficit, and expressed confidence that Modi would do what’s right on the issue of irregular migration.
Modi will be among a select group of leaders who will visit the White House in the first month of Trump’s second term. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to call on Trump on Tuesday. This is likely to be followed by a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II early next week.
While there was no official word from either side about the dates for the visit till late in the evening, sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Trump is likely to host a dinner for Modi and that no community event had been planned for the PM till now. As of now, Modi is also not scheduled to travel to any other city. A meeting with business leaders isn’t ruled out.
While looking to iron out differences over trade, which India sought to address in the budget by slashing import tariffs on high-end motorcycles, the govt will look for a reaffirmation of the US commitment to the initiative on critical and emerging technology that the Biden administration launched to expand the technology partnership and boost defence industrial cooperation. India expects strong convergence in this area as the first Trump administration had pledged support for transfer to India of advanced US military technology.
Modi and Trump are also expected to relaunch negotiations for a comprehensive trade agreement that didn’t work out last time despite some progress in the initial phase of talks. India will hope to soon have at least a mini deal that will restore Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) benefits that had been revoked by the Trump administration in 2019 because of restricted Indian market access.
The visit will also be an important occasion for the two sides to underline the strategic convergence in the Indo-Pacific where a close partnership between the US and India is seen by both as central to a free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous region. On the illegal migration issue, India has already made it clear it will accept all illegals, like it has in the past too, but after verifying the Indian origin of the people facing deportation.