By Admin 
The election bugle has been sounded to fill the vacant seats in 12 wards of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Announcing the by-election on Tuesday (28 October), the State Election Commission has fixed the voting date as 30 November. Voting will take place from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm and along with this, the code of conduct has also been implemented in these wards.
According to the State Election Commission (Delhi), by-elections will be held in 12 wards out of 250 wards of MCD on November 30. Election notification will be issued from November 3 and the nomination process will also begin on the same day. The last date for filing nominations has been fixed as November 10 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations has been fixed as November 15.
The Election Commission has appointed 7 District Election Officers (DEO), 11 Returning Officers (RO), 11 Election Observers and Accredited Observers. Out of 12 wards, 6 are reserved for general category, 5 for women and 1 for Scheduled Caste category.
Candidates will be able to spend maximum up to Rs 8 lakh
According to the Election Commission, general category candidates will have to deposit Rs 5,000 and Scheduled Caste candidates will have to deposit Rs 2,500 as security money at the time of nomination. Each candidate will be allowed to spend a maximum of Rs 8 lakh on publicity.
About seven lakh voters will cast their votes
A total of 6,98,751 voters will exercise their franchise in the by-election. These include 3,74,988 men, 3,23,710 women, 53 third gender voters, 60 disabled voters, 14,529 senior citizens (above 80 years) and 4,458 youth (18 years).
A total of 580 polling stations have been made for voting. The maximum number of polling stations (55) will be built in Shalimar Bagh-B, the former ward of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
Slight difference between male and female voters
According to the data of the Commission, there is very little difference in the number of male and female voters in the three wards. Interestingly, the number of voters above 80 years of age (2.07%) is more than that of 18 year old youth (0.63%), which shows the active participation of senior citizens in the elections.
Ward wise number of voters
• Mundka (General) – 54,525
• Shalimar Bagh-B (Women) – 66,391
• Ashok Vihar (Women) – 56,697
• Chandni Chowk (General) – 44,166
• Chandni Mahal (General) – 46,237
• Dwarka-B (Women) – 66,184
• Dichaun Kalan (Women) – 72,396
• Narayana (General) – 59,340
• Sangam Vihar-A (General) – 59,365
• Dakshinpuri (Scheduled Caste) – 61,636
• Greater Kailash (Women) – 49,624
• Vinod Nagar (General) – 62,190
Why were these seats vacant?
Of these 12, 11 seats became vacant after the councilors became MLAs, while the Dwarka-B seat became vacant after MP Kamaljit Sehrawat became a Lok Sabha member in May last year. These include the seat of Shalimar Bagh, which became vacant after Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was elected as MLA.
Which party had which seats?
Of these 12 wards, three seats — Chandni Mahal, Chandni Chowk and Dakshinpuri were earlier held by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). While nine seats – Shalimar Bagh, Dwarka B, Greater Kailash, Dichaun Kalan, Narayana, Sangam Vihar, Vinod Nagar, Ashok Vihar and Mundka were in the possession of BJP.
Current situation and political equations of MCD
In the year 2022, all three MCDs were integrated, in which elections were held on 250 seats. Then AAP had won 134, BJP 104, Congress 8 and 3 independent candidates. Subsequently, in 2024–25, many AAP councilors joined the BJP and 16 councilors formed a new party, Indraprastha Vikas Party (IVP). In this changed political equation, BJP won the mayoral elections held in April 2025 on the basis of majority.
At present, out of total 250 seats of MCD, 12 are vacant. The party-wise position on the remaining seats is as follows:
● BJP – 116 seats
● AAP – 98 seats
● Congress – 8 seats
● Indraprastha Vikas Party – 15 seats
All three parties have their eyes on these 12 seats
BJP, AAP and Congress – all three parties are considering these by-elections as very important. BJP is seeing this as an opportunity to strengthen its dominance in the corporation, while Aam Aadmi Party is trying to regain its lost seats. Whereas Congress is also hoping to make a comeback in this elections. Interestingly, all the parties claim that they will win all 12 seats.
Voting and results dates
◆ Nomination starts: 3 November
◆ Last date for nomination: 10 November
◆ Last date for withdrawal of nominations: 15 November
◆ Voting: November 30 (7:30 am to 5:30 pm)
◆ Declaration of results: 3 December
Congress prepared for candidate selection
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Devendra Yadav called an important meeting at Rajiv Bhawan today. In this, the selection of candidates for the by-elections to be held in 12 wards of MCD was discussed. During this, Devendra Yadav said that in the last 9 months, Rekha Gupta government of BJP has proved to be a failure in every field. People are now waiting for change. Anger against BJP is clearly visible in Delhi and Congress may get a chance for a big victory in these by-elections.
Attack on BJP, comparison with AAP
Devendra Yadav taunted that Rekha Gupta’s government turned out to be worse than the previous corrupt Aam Aadmi Party government. The promises made in the assembly elections – solving the problems of electricity and water, controlling cleanliness and pollution, repairing roads, solving the issue of demolition of houses and giving monthly honorarium of Rs 2500 to every woman – all hung in the balance.