The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP on Friday declared that Shelly Oberoi will be its mayoral candidate in Delhi, three weeks after it brought an end to the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 15-year reign in the metropolitan city's civic body.
The party's Aale Mohammad Iqbal has been named as its pick for the post of deputy mayor.
Who Are Shelly Oberoi & Mohammad Iqbal?
Oberoi, a former professor of the University of Delhi, won her first election in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls from the East Patel Nagar ward.
Oberoi's candidature for the municipal body's top post has come days after Delhi's ruling party promised to have a woman mayor if they won the elections to MCD.
"My priority is cleaning up Delhi, making it shine. We will make Delhi a smart city," Oberoi told reporters after her victory in the first week of December.
On the other hand, Aale Mohammad Iqbal is the son of AAP heavyweight Shoaib Iqbal, a six-term legislator in Delhi. He won the election from Chandni Mahal ward with a huge margin of 17,000 votes.
Oberoi's triumph in the mayoral elections scheduled for next month is a foregone conclusion as AAP has a brute majority in the Delhi assembly and also has a huge lead over the BJP in the city's civic body.
In the MCD (civic body) results announced on December 8, the AAP won 134 wards in a house of 250 while the BJP bagged 104. The Congress which ruled Delhi for 15 consecutive years from 1998 to 2013 fared miserably, winning just nine seats.
Moreover, in the 70-member Delhi state assembly, the AAP has 62 legislators while the BJP has only 8.
In Delhi, a mayor is chosen through voting in which all 250 municipal councilors, Delhi's seven Lok Sabha (lower house) and three Rajya Sabha (upper house) parliamentarians, and 1/5th members of the state Assembly (14) nominated by the Speaker cast their votes.
Besides the 134 councilors that AAP has, all three Rajya Sabha MPs from Delhi are from the party, plus it would also have the support of 14 lawmakers nominated by the assembly Speaker because he is also from the AAP.