Mon May 19 19:48:05 UTC 2025: **News Article:**

**Delhi Municipal Corporation to Hold Key Elections Amid Political Shift**

**New Delhi, May 20, 2025** – The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has announced it will hold elections on June 2nd for two vacant seats in its Standing Committee and for the positions of chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of its 12 ward committees. The elections for the Standing Committee seats were necessitated by the resignations of councillors who were elected as MLAs in February.

The polls, initially scheduled for May 22nd, were postponed due to heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. Nominations for the elections are open until May 27th.

This development comes on the heels of a significant political shakeup within the MCD. Fifteen councillors recently resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to form the Indraprastha Vikas Party (IVP), citing concerns over centralized decision-making within AAP. This defection leaves AAP with 98 councillors, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds 117 seats, and the Congress Party has eight.

While the anti-defection law does not apply to the MCD, the emergence of the IVP could significantly impact the outcome of the upcoming elections. Mukesh Goel, a former Leader of the MCD House and senior IVP leader, stated that his party would nominate candidates where they have a strong presence and offer support to suitable candidates in other seats.

AAP’s MCD in-charge, Durgesh Pathak, expressed confidence that his party will field candidates in each ward and secure victories in areas where they hold a majority.

The ward committee elections are particularly crucial as each of the 12 committees nominates a member to the Standing Committee, the MCD’s primary decision-making body responsible for approving projects exceeding ₹5 crore. In last year’s elections, the BJP and AAP each secured the positions of chairman and deputy chairman in five committees.

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