After high drama, Delhi civic body (MCD) panel election to be held today

Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Thursday ordered the municipal commissioner to conduct the election to the last vacant seat of the MCD standing committee on Friday. According to the LG, the election will be held at 1 pm, adding that additional commissioner Jitender Yadav will preside over the elections.

Earlier, Saxena had directed the elections to be held on Thursday. However, Mayor Shelly Oberoi adjourned the polls until October 5, following a high-drama over the security check of councillors.

Presently, the BJP has nine members in the standing committee, while the AAP has eight. The 18th seat was vacated when the BJP councillor from Dwarka-B, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, resigned upon being elected the party’s parliamentarian from the West Delhi constituency.

MCD order on standing committee election

Following the Delhi LG’s order, MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar issued a notice calling for the standing committee seat election on Friday.

According to the order, while Mayor Shelly Oberoi said that any election held before October 5 would be “illegal and unconstitutional”, the deputy mayor and senior most members of the MCD did not respond on the matter.

“The matter was again placed before the Lieutenant Governor as directed by him, inter alia, highlighting the fact that the standing committee is a key body for discharging municipal functions, and its non-constitution for the past about 21 months has impeded decision-making in critical matters relating to municipal affairs,” the order read.

It added: “Therefore, in the larger public interest and to preserve the democratic spirit of the Municipal Body, the Lt Governor has directed that the aforesaid election be conducted on September 27 at 1:00 pm. Further, the Lt. Governor has also directed that Jitender Yadav, Addl Commissioner, shall preside over as Returning Officer for the purpose. The entire election process may be duly video-graphed. Mobile phones and electronic gadgets shall not be allowed inside the hall where voting will take place for the sake of secrecy of ballot.”

High drama in MCD

The election for the 18th seat on the MCD’s standing committee was postponed on Thursday after high drama in the municipal corporation over an order from the municipal secretariat disallowing mobile phones inside the chamber during the vote. The Delhi police had also set up frisking points at entrance points.

While the BJP councillors complied with the rule, AAP councillors raised their voices against it and held a sit-in protest in the lobby. Mayor Shelly Oberoi and other councillors insisted that phones cannot be disallowed inside the chamber and that frisking “violated their dignity”.

“We have been elected by people and, hence, are members of this House. This is like hurting the dignity and sentiments of members. This is against democracy, and such a step has never been taken in the past,” Oberoi said.

The gridlock, which began around 2 pm, went on till late at night, around 10 pm – until MCD postponed the election.

Following this, BJP hit out at the AAP and Mayor, and raised slogans such as “Mayor hosh me aao (Mayor comes to senses)” and “standing committee ka election karwao (Hold standing committee election)”.

BJP Delhi chief Virendra Sachdeva asked the MCD commissioner to hold the elections as per law and directions of the Supreme Court.

“The anti-incumbency against Arvind Kejriwal is at its peak, and the AAP is running away from the election as he is scared his own councillors are going to desert him…We will file a contempt petition against the mayor in the court on Friday,” he said.