The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh as the mayoral candidate for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi annual election. The Delhi MCD polls are scheduled for April 25, with nominations for candidates open now.
Here is everything you should know about Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh, the BJP’s mayoral candidate for the Delhi MCD election.
Who is Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh?
Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh will be running for the post of mayor in the upcoming Delhi MCD election 2025. Singh served as mayor during the BJP’s previous term.
Raja Iqbal Singh is at present the Leader of the Opposition in the MCD. He has served as the former Mayor of North MCD. He is also the former chairman of the Ward Committee in Civil Line Zone, as well as a former councillor of Mukherjee Nagar Ward 13. His rise within the BJP has been steep.
The politician belongs to a family associated with the Akali Dal. According to The Indian Express, Singh’s father-in-law was the councillor of GTB Nagar, and his brother is still actively involved in Akali politics.
Raja Iqbal Singh’s Civil Line Zone stint till 2020 was on behalf of the Akali Dal. That year, when the party pulled out of NDA, the leadership asked him to resign from his post but he did not. Later in 2021, the BJP made him the mayor of North MCD.
As the mayor, one of his first tasks was the controversial demolition drive in Jahangirpuri, which came after riots broke out in the area.
According to The Indian Express, Singh is a man of few words. He had dismissed questions about the demolition, saying that the structures that were broken were part of an anti-encroachment drive.
Triple-engine government
Following the announcement of his name, Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh said that Delhi’s development will begin soon with a ‘triple-engine’ government.
Mayor candidate for MCD Annual Election, Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh says, “This is the win of Delhi’s public that was fed up with the AAP government. Now, a triple-engine government will be formed and Delhi development will begin… Lotus will bloom in the entire civic centre as we have a lot of support from people,” he said.
He also said, “The biggest issue in Delhi is cleanliness. Delhi should be clean and green. We will work on educational facilities and primary health centres and try to maintain hygiene at all settlements”.
Delhi MCD polls
The three civic bodies, East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), were re-unified into a single entity on May 22, 2022, as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
In the 260-seat MCD, AAP currently leads the corporation in an alliance with Congress. AAP has 114 seats, while Congress has 8, bringing the total to 122. With 12 seats vacant, the alliance passed the majority mark of 119. The BJP is the largest political party in the MCD, holding 116 seats. In MCD, 10 seats are nominated, while the remaining 250 are elected through wards.
