MCD presiding officer not yet appointed, then LG and Delhi government face to face

MCD Mayor Election: With the end of the last financial year in Delhi, the term of the Mayor of MCD also ended. The outgoing mayor Dr. Shelly Oberoi will continue as mayor till the name of the next mayor is announced. The mayor’s election is to be held again on 26th April, in which AAP has once again put its stamp on the present mayor and deputy mayor, expressing confidence in them. The ruling party AAP has also fielded its outgoing mayor and deputy mayor this time. The victory of both is also considered to be almost certain, but once again the Delhi government and the LG have come face to face regarding the name of the presiding officer in the upcoming elections. This situation has arisen due to non-appointment of the presiding officer.

On Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had recommended to the LG to appoint Aam Aadmi Party leader and MCD’s senior-most councilor Mukesh Goyal as the presiding officer. MCD officials claim that no one’s name was included in the file they had sent for the appointment of the presiding officer and had requested the LG to appoint the presiding officer after fixing the name. But now the Delhi government has proposed the name on the file and now LG’s approval is yet to be received on it. Now it will be interesting to see whether LG approves this proposal or proposes a new name.

Last time Goyal’s claim was rejected because

Earlier, for the mayoral election held on February 22, when the Delhi government had sent a proposal of 5 names to the LG to appoint the presiding officer, Mukesh Goyal’s name was at the top in that too. Then the LG had refused to make him the presiding officer, citing allegations of corruption against Goyal. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see that now that the Delhi government has again sent a proposal to appoint Goyal as the presiding officer, whether the LG approves it or not. In this matter, there has been no response from the LG office yet. CM Arvind Kejriwal had told by tweeting three days back that ‘Mayor’s election is to be held on April 26. As per the previous tradition, I have approved the name of Mukesh Goyal, the senior most councilor, as the Presiding Officer for the conduct of the House during the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. I have sent its file to LG. If he does not decide to refer the matter to the President in case of disagreement, then he is bound to accept it.

Only LG has the right to appoint the presiding officer

At the same time, Delhi BJP took a jibe at Chief Minister Kejriwal’s tweet and said that the Chief Minister is not aware of the constitutional arrangements. The BJP says that only the LG has the right to appoint the presiding officer. BJP state spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that the Chief Minister is misleading the people of Delhi even in constitutional matters. In the amended MCD Act 2022, it has been made clear that the administrator has the right to appoint the presiding officer for the mayoral election. LG is the administrator of MCD. In such a situation, he also has the right to appoint the presiding officer for the upcoming mayor elections.

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