After Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena's late night order, the municipal commissioner is expected to conduct election to the last vacant seat of the MCD standing committee on Friday. This comes following drama throughout the day with Mayor Shelly Oberoi adjourning the polls until October 5 and Saxena overturning her decision later.
According to the order, Additional Municipal Commissioner Jitender Yadav was appointed as a presiding officer of the MCD House meeting to conduct polls for the committee's sixth seat that fell vacant after BJP leader Kamaljeet Sehrawat was elected as the West Delhi MP. According to reports, no mobile phone or other electronic gadget will be allowed inside the voting Hall for the sake of secrecy of ballot.
What is the issue all about
Following disruption over frisking of the councillors, the election to the MCD Standing Committee was postponed with the meeting of the House being adjourned till October 5 earlier in the day. In late evening, Saxena, however, overturned the postponement of the elections and directed MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar to submit a report by 10 pm.
Saxena instructed to make the deputy mayor the presiding officer for the elections if the mayor refuses to hold the elections. In case, the deputy mayor also refuses, the senior most member of the House will preside over the elections, he ordered.
Anti-incumbency against Arvind Kejriwal is at its peak: BJP
Announcing that a contempt petition against the mayor will be filed in the court on Friday, the BJP has asked the MCD commissioner to hold the elections as per law and directions of the Supreme Court, Delhi unit president of the party Virendra Sachdeva said in a statement earlier in the day. "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," Sachdeva charged.
What actually happened
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House proceeding for election to the lone standing committee seat was adjourned briefly amid uproar over frisking of councillors to check if anybody was carrying mobile phones. As soon as Mayor Shelly Oberoi entered the House, she raised concern over the security check of councillors, claiming it was the first time this was happening. It was undemocratic and insulting for the members of the House, she said. The mayor said she wanted the elections to happen but the atmosphere was disrupted due to the frisking. The BJP councillors started raising slogans "Mayor hosh me aao" and "Standing Committee ka election karwao".
BJP 'murdering' democracy: AAP
Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia on Thursday addressed a press conference and accused the BJP of "murdering" democracy in the MCD by forcing a standing committee member election to take place late in the night, despite adjournment of the House meeting of the civic body. Sisodia demanded the LG withdraw the order, and threatened legal action in the matter by his party. He said the BJP was doing a repeat of the Chandigarh mayoral poll, by trying to conduct an election in the absence of AAP councillors.
