The civic body polls in Delhi have been postponed by a day as a Class 12 board exam under the Central Board of Secondary Education was also scheduled for April 22. Elections to the 272 seats of three municipal bodies – North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation – will now be held on April 23.
Although the board exams will continue till April 29, there is no paper scheduled for April 23. More than 1.3 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in the elections. The results, too, have been pushed and will now be declared on April 26.
At present, the Bharatiya Janata Party holds 152 seats, Congress 91, Aam Aadmi Party has eight, Bahujan Samaj Party 10 and others have nine seats. One seat is vacant.
The Election Commission decided to use Electronic Voting Machines for the polls, despite Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s request to use only the paper ballot system. “Rules need to be amended for the MCD elections to be held through ballot papers. The Delhi government will need to take a call on it,” State Election Commissioner SK Srivastava had said.
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