Supreme Court puts breaks on Delhi Mayor polls till February 17

The Supreme Court today ordered that the Delhi Mayoral elections be held after February 17, once it has gotten a chance to deal with the plea before it, on the issue.

When the matter came up for hearing, the CJI Chandrachud led bench was informed that the elections have been notified but the petitioner has two other prayers.

"First, the nominated members should not be allowed to go for election and secondly, the election for Mayor, Deputy Mayor and standing committee should be held separately...", Court was told.

When the bench remarked that it had to meet a delegation from US, ASG Jain assured the bench that the elections could take place a few days later.

The Supreme Court had recently agreed to hear the plea filed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Shelly Oberoi seeking to expedite the mayoral elections in Delhi on February 3, 2023.

Senior Advocate AM Singhvi had mentioned the matter before a CJI led bench, which agreed to hear the case.

Oberoi has sought for the elections to take place in a time-bound manner, and to ensure that the nominated members are not allowed to vote.

NCT of Delhi does not yet have a mayor despite voting in members of its municipal corporation early last month. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is without a mayor and deputy mayor after two its previous sittings saw violence break out among the AAP and BJP councillors.

The Delhi mayor election was to take place on January 24, 2023 but the elections were stalled as the House was adjourned indefinitely by the LG-appointed presiding officer following ruckus by some councillors.

On January 6, the first meeting of the newly elected House was also adjourned owing to ruckus between AAP and BJP members.

Case Title: Shelly Oberoi vs. LG, Delhi