The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced on Thursday that Devnagar ward representative Mahesh Khichi would be its candidate for the mayoral election of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). In a briefing, Gopal Rai, the Delhi AAP convenor, disclosed that Aman Vihar ward councillor Ravinder Bhardwaj has been chosen as the party’s nominee for deputy mayor.

This year’s MCD mayoral race is open exclusively to councillors from reserved categories. Khichi, a steadfast AAP member since the party’s founding in 2012, was nominated for the role. The term for the mayor is one year.

Both candidates are set to submit their nominations later today. Given AAP’s commanding presence with 134 out of the 250 seats in the MCD, Khichi and Bhardwaj are poised to face minimal resistance in the election. The opposition BJP holds 104 seats in the council. The final decision on the new mayor will be made during the MCD general council meeting on April 26.