The process to elect three Mayors in the national Capital has been put on hold, due to nationwide lockdown announced to control the spread of Covid-19, a senior corporation official said.

As per the Delhi Municipal Act (DMC) Act 1957, elections of Mayor and deputy mayor from among the councillors of the corporations, should be held in the first meeting of the House every year.

A senior BJP leader said that leaders sitting at top positions refrain themselves from participating in corporation meetings now. “The State leadership must clear the air as current session is about to expire and no decision has been taken on the issue. During these tough times role of civic bodies is crucial, hence election to elect new mayors and deputy mayors, must take place .

Referring the DMC Act, he said holding House meeting every month is mandatory which is chaired by the Mayor and attended by all municipal councillors and commissioner but it is not possible now to call meeting because of ongoing lockdown. “Taking the situation in account, all three corporations are considering writing Lieutenant Governor requesting to grant an exemption from election and house meetings,” he added.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) Commissioner Varsha Joshi said that as per DMC Act the term of mayor only ends after new one elected and that can happen once house meeting convene.

The post of mayor in Delhi sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for open category, third for reserved category and the remaining two also being in the open category.

The erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated in 2012 into the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and East Delhi Municipal Corporation. The first municipal poll after the trifurcation was held in the same year.

The BJP had bagged 181 of the 270 wards in the civic polls. Delhi has a total of 272 wards north Corporation (104 wards), SDMC (104) and EDMC (64).

The BJP had nominated Sunita Kangra for the post of Mayor and Raj Dutt Gehlot for the post of Deputy Mayor last year in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. In north Corporation, the party had nominated Avtar Singh for the post of Mayor and Yogesh Verma for the post of Deputy Mayor. Similarly in East Corporation, Anuj Kamal was nominated for Mayor and Sanjay Goel for the post of Deputy Mayor last year.