Election Procedure

General Rules & Election Procedure

• Election of the Corporation
• Duration of the Corporation
• Procedure for Election of Mayor
• Procedure for Election of Councillors
• Municipal Authorities under the Corporation

Election of the Corporation

The superintendence, direction and control of Elections to the preparation of the electoral rolls for and the conduct of all Corporation. Election to the Corporation shall be vested in the Election Commission appointed under Section 7 of the Delhi Municipal Corpporation Act.1957, and the Election Commission so appointed under that section shall be responsible for the functions conferred on the Election Commission under this sub-section.

The Administrator shall, when so requested by the Election Commission, make available to that Commission such staff which the Administrator consider necessary for the discharge of the functions conferred on the Commission by Sub-Section(1).

Duration of the Corporation

The Corporation, unless sooner dissolved under duration of the section 407, shall continue for five years from the date Corporation appointed for its first meeting and no longer.

An election to constitute the Corporation shall be completed:
(a) Before the expiry of its duration specified in Sub-Section(1)
(b) Before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution

Provided that where the reminder of the period for which the dissolved Corporation would have continued is less than six months, it shall not be necessary to hold any election under this sub-section for constituting the Corporation for such period.

The Corporation constituted upon its dissolution before the expiration of its duration shall continue only for the reminder of the period for which the dissolved corporation would have continued under sub-section (1) had it not been so dissolved.

Procedure for Election of Mayor

• Notwithstanding anything contained in section 59 a meeting for the election of a Mayor shall be convened by the prescribed authority who shall also nominate a Councillor who is not a candidate for such election to preside over the meeting.

• Every candidate for election as Mayor shall be nominated by a nomination paper in Form I which shall be signed by the candidate and two other members of the Corporation as proposer and seconder and delivered to the Municipal Secretary or such other authority as may be identified for this purpose by the presiding authority between the hours of eleven o’clock in the after noon at least three clear day before the date of meeting at which the election of Mayor is to be held.

• No member shall sign as proposer or soconder the nomination paper of more than one candidate. Where a member has signed as proposer or seconder nomination papers for more than one, the nomination paper for the candidate which has been first received shall be deemed to be valid and the other nomination papers shall be deemed to be invalid.

• Any candidate may withdraw his candidature by giving it in writing a any time before the election is proceeded with in the meeting.

• When there is only one candidate validly nominated or when after withdrawal of candidature there is only one such candidate the presiding authority shall declare him to be duly elected as Mayor.

• When two or more validly nominated candidates offer themselves for election at the meeting the election shall be held by secret ballot in the manner hereinafter provided.

• Ballot papers containing the names of persons duly nominated shall be furnished to the members at the meeting.

• The ballot box shall remain open for the casting of votes for such period as may be fixed by the presiding authority.

• No member shall vote for more than one candidate. At the time of voting, each member shall places a cross (X) on the right hand side of the ballot paper opposite the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote, and will then fold the ballot paper and without showing the front of the paper to any person, insert the same in the ballot box in the presence of the presiding authority.

• If a member shall votes for more candidates than one or places any mark on the paper by which he may be identified, his ballot paper shall be considered invalid and will not be counted. A vote recorded on a ballot paper used at the meeting shall be rejected if the marks indicating the vote is placed on the ballot paper in such a manner as to make it doubtful to which candidate the vote has been given.

• As soon as the period foxed for casting of votes is over the presiding authority shall open the ballot box and initial each ballot paper.

• The votes for all the candidates shall then be counted by the presiding authority with the assistance of the Municipal Officials or employees as may be designated by the presiding authority and the candidates shall be arranged in the order of the number of votes obtained by each of them.

• If there are only two candidates, then he one who gets the larger number of votes shall be declared elected.

• If there are more than two candidates, and at the first ballot no candidate obtains more votes than the aggregate votes obtained by the other candidates, the candidate who has obtained the smallest number of votes shall be excluded from the election and votes shall be taken again for remaining candidates, the candidates obtaining the smallest number of votes at each ballot being excluded from the election, until one candidate obtains more votes than the remaining candidate or than the aggregate votes of the remaining candidates as the case may be.

• Where at any ballot any of three or more candidates obtain an equal number of votes and one of them has to be excluded from the election under sub Regulation 13, the determination as between the candidates whose votes are equal, of the candidates who is to be excluded, shall be by draw of lots and on whom the lot falls shall be deemed to have received an additional vote.

• The ballot papers shall be kept by the Municipal Secretary in his custody till the next election and may then be destroyed by him. In case the election has been challenged in any court of law, ballot papers shall be kept in custody till the finalisations of the case in the court of law.

General Election of Councillors - Section (15)

• A general election of councillors shall be held for the purpose of constituting the Corporation under Section 4.

• Omitted.

• For the aforesaid purposes the Administrator shall, by one or more notifications published in the Official Gazette, call upon all the wards to elect councilors in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the rules and orders made thereunder before such date or dates as may be specified in the notification or notifications.

Municipal Authorities under the Corporation

The Municipal Authorities charged with carrying out the provisions of this Act shall be:

• The Corporation
• The Commissioner
• The Finance and Contracts Committee