New Mayor for east Delhi civic agency

New Delhi, May 1 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party's Annapurna Mishra Tuesday took charge of the newly-created east Delhi municipal corporation as its first Mayor after she was elected unopposed from among the 64 councillors. The deputy mayor's post also went to the BJP.

Mishra, a two-time councillor, said: "Unlike other corporations, east Delhi requires economic support as it has fewer revenue sources. We need more economic support to make the east Delhi civic body the best corporation."

Mishra's party colleague Usha Shastri became the deputy mayor.

Mishra, 58, was elected from Sonia Vihar ward while Shastri was elected from Karawal Nagar.

Election to the six-member standing committee was also held, in which four BJP and two Congress councillors were elected unopposed.

The BJP councillors elected to the standing committee are: Mahak Singh, Lata Gupta, Sanjay Kaushik and Raj Kumar Dillan. Savita Sharma and Varyam Kaur of the Congress were also elected unopposed to the panel. Congress's Asma Begum had also filed her nomination but later she withdrew it.

The 64-ward east MCD has been newly formed after elections to the trifurcated MCD were held April 15. The BJP bagged 35 seats in the east MCD, followed by the Congress with 19 seats.

All the newly-elected councillors were also sworn in at the first house meeting of the corporation Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the BJP and Congress councillors demanded space in the civic centre as the allotted east Delhi corporation building has "no basic facilities".

The first house meeting started with a ruckus as the BJP slammed Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for trifurcating the civic body but "not providing" a proper building for the agency to function. Congress councillors, however, blamed Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner K.S. Mehra for the deficiency.

"The building does not have a proper hall to conduct house or standing committee meeting. The existing auditorium looks like a theatre," said BJP's Mahak Singh, one of the Standing Committee members.

However, the new mayor said she will discuss the issue with the MCD commissioner.

The mayoral election for south Delhi municipal corporation will be held Wednesday.