Congress on Tuesday said the bill to unify the three municipal corporations of Delhi is "unconstitutional and illegal" and would be challenged in a court of law. The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, was piloted in Rajya Sabha by Home Minister Amit Shah and passed by Parliament on Tuesday.
Lok Sabha had passed the bill, which seeks to amend the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act of 1957, on March 30. At a press conference hours before the passage of the bill, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said this bill is "unconstitutional and illegal" and should be withdrawn. It is administratively blunderous and politically hypocritical, he said.
Slamming the BJP, Singhvi said it was damaging the federal structure and decentralization. "You did not talk about unifying the corporations when you were in power for the last seven to eight years and got a brain wave only hours before the election commission was to declare the polls," he said. The BJP wants to save itself from anti-incumbency and the people's wrath in the MCD polls, he alleged.
Asked if the bill would be challenged by Congress in courts, he said who challenges it is not the issue but it would definitely be challenged. This bill is about control and more control by the government, he alleged. Singhvi also questioned the logic of limiting the number of seats in the three corporations taken together to 250 from 272.
The Delhi Municipal Corporation was trifurcated in 2011 by the then Delhi government led by Sheila Dikshit to create compact municipalities aimed at providing a better delivery of services. The AAP and the Congress in Delhi have been critical of the Centre's move to bring the bill a month before the terms of the three municipal corporations are to end. The BJP has been ruling the municipal corporations in Delhi for the last 15 years and the AAP has been sensing an opportunity to oust it from power and strengthen its grip on the national capital.
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