Two candidates, including incumbent Shelly Oberoi, have filed their nominations for the Delhi mayoral poll slated to be held on April 26, officials said on Tuesday. Oberoi is a councillor from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the ruling party in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too has entered the fray and senior party leader Shikha Rai, the councillor from the Greater Kailash-1 ward, is its candidate for the mayoral poll.

According to a statement issued by the MCD on Tuesday, four nominations have been received by the municipal secretary’s office — two each for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor.

AAP’s Oberoi and Aaley Mohammad Iqbal filed their nominations on Monday for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor respectively for a possible second consecutive term, with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party exuding confidence that its candidates are poised for a win.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva on Tuesday nominated second-time councillor Rai for the mayoral poll. Sachdeva also nominated Soni Pandey, an activist of the Purvanchal Morcha and the councillor from ward number 249, for the deputy mayor’s post, the saffron party said.

The two BJP candidates filed their nominations later in the day.

Tuesday was the last day for filing nominations for the mayoral poll. A meeting of the MCD is scheduled to be held on April 26 for the election of the mayor and deputy mayor.

A notification to this effect was issued on April 12.

The city gets a new mayor after the end of a financial year.

Incumbent Oberoi will continue to hold charge till a new mayor is elected, official sources said on April 3.

“Once the term of a mayor ends, the new mayor is to be elected at the first MCD meeting, according to the norm. Similar is the process to elect the deputy mayor. After the start of the financial year 2023-24, the meeting scheduled to be held on April 26 will be the first one in the new financial year,” former North Delhi mayor Jai Prakash said.

Prakash, a senior BJP leader, said the presiding officer for the mayoral poll will be chosen by the lieutenant governor.

Oberoi was elected as the Delhi mayor on February 22.

She defeated BJP’s Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes. Oberoi polled 150 votes, while Gupta received 116 of the total 266 votes polled.

The voting was held at the Civic Centre — the headquarters of the MCD.

Delhi got a mayor in the fourth attempt since the earlier elections were stalled amid a ruckus over voting rights being given to nominated members.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House after the civic polls.

The post of mayor in the national capital sees five single-year terms on a rotational basis, with the first year reserved for women, the second for the open category, the third for the reserved category and the remaining two again for the open category.

The tenure of a mayor has seen extended terms too in the past, Prakash said.

The civic polls held on December 4 last year were the first after the three corporations were unified into the MCD and a fresh delimitation exercise was carried out, reducing the number of wards from 272 in 2012 to 250.

The AAP had emerged victorious in the high-stakes polls.

The unification of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (64 wards) happened last year, with a notification issued to that effect in May.