New Delhi: Delhi was looking to get a new Mayor on Monday, after two earlier attempts were aborted amid clashes between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP, which was dethroned in the last polls after 15 years in power.
Both Houses adjourned initially till 2 pm, and later for the day, as leaders shouted slogans for a joint parliamentary probe into the group’s financial probity after a damning report by an American short-seller sent its shares crashing.
For over a month, the bone of contention has been whether 10 members nominated by the Lieutenant Governor (LG) – who reports to the central government — should be allowed to vote in the mayoral and the standing committee elections.
On Monday, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s presiding officer Satya Sharma cleared the voting for aldermen, thereby overruling the AAP’s protests. Sharma also said the election of the deputy mayor and six standing committee members would go ahead too.
Following this decision, AAP members exploded in protests in the civic body house replicating similar scenes from 6 and 24 January. The House was then indefinitely adjourned for a third time.
Frustrated with the adjournments, the AAP has now decided to move the Supreme Court, so that the mayoral elections can be held in a “court-monitored” environment, party leader Atishi said.
Through an amendment in April 2021, the Union Home Ministry had made the LG in-charge of the national capital, saying the city’s elected government would have to seek the opinion of the LG before an executive decision.
The AAP has had long-standing run-ins with LGs, and this time they have alleged that the 10 men nominated by present LG VK Saxena would boost the BJP’s numbers in the House elections.
While the AAP is expected to win the mayoral elections, the going is not so smooth for the party in the standing committee polls. This committee is the most powerful body in the Delhi corporation.
Of the 18-member committee, 12 would be elected through zonal polls, and six through elections that were to be held Monday.
While the AAP will win 3, and the BJP 2, the sixth is likely to go to the BJP if the aldermen are allowed to vote.
Also read: BJP has instructed its councillors to stall MCD mayor polls: Sisodia