No Delhi Mayor polls on Feb 16 after SC observes nominated members can't vote

The decision came after the office of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor told the Supreme Court that it would postpone the Feb 16 election to a date after Feb 17.

The apex court earlier posted for Feb 17 a plea filed by Aam Aadmir Party (AAP) Mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi seeking an early holding of the poll.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, observed that nominated members cannot vote in the election.

"Nominated members cannot go for election. The constitutional provision is very clear," the bench observed, vindicating the Aam Aadmi Party's assertion.

The apex court had on Feb 8 sought responses from the office of the LG, pro tem presiding officer Satya Sharma of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and others, on Oberoi's plea.

Amid a prolonged tussle between the AAP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), there have been three failed attempts to elect the Mayor.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had earlier accepted a proposal by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's party to hold the Mayor election on Febr 16.

The Mayor could not be elected when the councillors met on Jan 6 and 24, and Feb 6, due to protests by the BJP and AAP after 10 MCD members nominated by the Lieutenant Governor were allowed to vote.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act also says nominated members, or aldermen, cannot vote in house meetings.

The AAP emerged as the clear winner in the MCD polls in December, winning 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.

The post of Delhi mayor sees five single-year terms on rotation, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for the open category, the third for the reserved category, and the remaining two again for the open category. Delhi will thus get a woman mayor this year.