With the MCC in place for the Lok Sabha elections, the MCD’s Municipal Secretary must first write to the Commissioner to receive permission for the elections. This request is then forwarded to the screening committee of the Delhi Urban Department, then to the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, and finally to the ECI.
The MCD also needs permission from L-G Saxena and a presiding officer nominee to conduct the polls. The mayor is usually the presiding officer, but according to the act, any councillor with good knowledge of the workings of the MCD and its election process can be nominated.
Sources in the bureaucracy said the L-G Secretariat has yet to receive the file related to the internal civic body polls, which needs to be routed through the Urban Development department and the Chief Minister’s office.
If the ECI denies permission due to the Lok Sabha elections, the MCD polls may have to be pushed to May-end. This would not be the first time that the MCD elections are postponed; previously there have been delays due to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and then in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.
