Abhijay Raj Vaish, Pune
The Delhi Civic Body (MCD) elections have been announced to take place on Friday following a power tussle between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena.
The elections are tabled for 1 P.M. that were previously instructed to be held by 10 P.M. on Thursday by the LG with Additional Commissioner Jitendra Yadav presiding over the elections. The late night elections were slammed by AAP leader Manish Sisodia as an attempt to murder democracy in his bid to conduct elections in the absence of councilors.
Earlier, the MCD house meeting had been suspended after the councilors had protested for being frisked while not being allowed to carry their cell phones inside the chamber. Mayor Shelly Oberoi had postponed the polls to not be held before October 5 citing them as illegal and unconstitutional. However, LG Saxena dismissed the suspension and directed MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar to conduct the elections by the night. He further ordered the Deputy mayor or the senior- most member of the house to supervise the elections if the mayor refuses to preside.
The elections are to be held for the sixth member of the standing committee post the resignation of BJP councilor Kamaljeet Sehrawat as he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the West Delhi constituency. Currently, the AAP has three members in the standing committee in contrast to the BJP’s two. The elections have come during a tumultuous political climate in the Capital with three of the AAP councilors switching over to the BJP reducing the former’s tally to 125 in the 250 member MCD house.
These have been worries of the ruling AAP losing control over the body with five party members defecting from the party previously on August 25. The election for the standing committee is of special significance as it wields the power to approve projects worth over Rs. 5 crore.
The AAP have scrutinized the move drawing comparisons with the Chandigarh mayoral poll threatening legal action against the order. The BJP has opposed the AAP’s stance asking the elections to be held as soon as possible.