4 min readNew DelhiApr 25, 2025 11:28 PM IST
First published on: Apr 25, 2025 at 11:28 PM IST
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has returned to power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) after two years, as it swept the annual polls to elect a Mayor and Deputy Mayor on Friday.
Raja Iqbal Singh, who had been serving as the BJP’s Leader of Opposition in the MCD, defeated the Congress candidate, Mandeep Singh, by 125 votes to be elected Mayor. He secured 133 votes, while the Congress candidate received 8. Out of the total 142 votes cast, one was declared invalid.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had decided to boycott the election.
After Singh’s win, the Congress congratulated him and withdrew the nomination of its candidate Ariba Khan from Abul Fazal Enclave for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This meant BJP’s Deputy Mayor candidate Jai Bhagwan Yadav, the Begampur councillor, won unopposed.
Among his first tasks as Mayor, Singh said he plans on withdrawing the recently imposed user charges for solid waste management; this had led to a surge in property tax for both commercial and residential properties in the Capital.
He also said he will ensure that the Standing Committee, the MCD’s 18-member body without whose approval no financial decision above Rs 5 crore can be approved, is formed within a month.
Addressing the MCD House after the announcement of his win, he said, “In the past few years, the pace of development in Delhi had slowed down. I promise that my team of councillors will hasten this pace. I will work with full commitment to ensure that all work, including clearing landfills, better schools and civic amenities, is done.”
Referring to the expansion of the BJP’s metaphorical “double engine” sarkaar (government) into a “triple engine” one, Singh said, “Now that the lotus has bloomed in Delhi and MCD, we will work on making the Capital better… I will soon chair a meeting with all MCD officials to ensure that Delhi is free of garbage and corruption, that good education and medical services are being provided. Nigam ke Andar phir se kamal Khil gaya hai, aab aap ke chehre pe bhi muskaan aa jayegi.”
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta also lauded Singh on the win. “Now, under the leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, with the power of the triple engine – Centre, Corporation and Delhi Government – the work of making the capital clean, prosperous and developed will move ahead at a faster pace,” she said in a post on X.
In a statement, AAP Delhi convenor and former minister, Saurabh Bharadwaj, said now the onus of all of Delhi’s issues will fall on the BJP.
“The AAP chose to boycott the Mayor election in Delhi in the interest of the people. It will play the role of a strong opposition… Now that the BJP has a ‘four-engine’ government, it will have to deliver — excuses won’t be tolerated anymore… The BJP must understand that its rhetoric won’t fool anyone; in just a month, people will see its true face,” he said.
The mayoral poll electorate comprises the elected councillors, 14 MLAs (nominated in proportion to party representation in the Delhi Assembly), seven Lok Sabha MPs (all BJP), and three Rajya Sabha MPs (all AAP). Due to its increased strength in the Delhi Assembly, 12 of the 14 nominated MLAs are from the BJP, up from the solitary nominated MLA it previously had.
In the MCD elections held in December 2022, the AAP had wrested control of the civic body from the BJP, which had been in power for 15 years. The AAP bagged 134 out of the 250 seats, while the BJP had won 104 and the Congress 9. The remaining seats had gone to Independents. However, as the anti-defection law does not apply to the MCD, the continuous poaching of councillors from both ends left the numbers altered: the AAP now holds 113 seats, the BJP 117, and the Congress 8.
Newly elected Mayor of Delhi MCD, Raja Iqbal Singh (X/@gupta_rekha) 
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