Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 24: Another attempt to elect mayor, deputy mayor and members of the standing committee of Delhi proved infructuous on Tuesday as the meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House was adjourned without completing the process amid a ruckus by some councillors.
For the second time, the presiding officer Satya Sharma on Tuesday adjourned the MCD House meeting indefinitely, due to yet another ruckus between the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP Councillors. The elections had to be deferred under similar circumstances earlier on January 6 also.
Mr. Sharma said, “A House cannot run like this…House is adjourned till next date.” There was heavy security deployment inside the Municipal House, the Civic Centre premises and even the well of the House to avoid a repeat of the chaos that ensued during the last meeting on January 6.
The new 250-member Municipal House of Delhi reconvened on Tuesday to elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the National Capital, weeks after the first session was adjourned following a ruckus between the AAP and the BJP. Both the AAP and the BJP expressed confidence in winning the mayoral elections, even as the dispute between the two — over the sequence in which the nominated members (or aldermen) and the elected Councillors will be administered the oath — threatened to derail the House proceedings again.
Members of AAP had launched a protest in the MCD’s first meeting on January 6 over the decision of the presiding officer — BJP Councillor Satya Sharma — to first administer the oath to the 10 aldermen nominated by the L-G, while accusing the BJP of trying to rig the mayoral elections through its attempt to provide voting rights to the aldermen. In response, the BJP had said the House was run as per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and accused the AAP of disturbing the proceedings.
Mr. Sharma took a call to first administer the oath to the 10 persons (aldermen) nominated to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), amid cries of “shame shame” from AAP Councillors. The aldermen then went on to complete the oath-taking process, after which the elected Councillors were administered the oath. This was followed by the annual election to the Office of the Mayor.
The issue remained the bone of contention between the AAP and the BJP accusing each other of disrupting the proceedings of the house. The AAP alleged that the BJP was trying to undo the outcome of the municipal elections by getting more members in the all-important standing committee through the nominated members carefully selected by the Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena from people with BJP background instead of nominating experts in the municipal administration as provided in the MCD act. In the elections held in December, the AAP had won 134 seats and the BJP 105 in the 250-member MCD but the AAP has so far failed to get its nominee elected the mayor.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana said, “We are confident that if everything goes on smoothly, Delhi’s next Mayor will be from the BJP.” On the issue of who will take the oath first, he said, “I don’t understand why there is a problem over who takes the oath first. Everybody has to take the oath. The Presiding Officer will decide the order.”
Scenes of chaos were witnessed yet again as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) as the mayoral election was taken up in hand. The House had seen unprecedented chaos earlier this month (January 6), including fistfights and exchange of blows just weeks after the national capital had elected its councillors. Members on top of tables had triggered criticism about apparent lack of civic sense in elected councillors who would be responsible for the civic body’s functioning.
Similar scenes were repeated on Tuesday in the chamber shortly after all councillors were sworn in. A video showed leaders locked in arguments and shouting matches; some leaders climbed on chairs and tables. The issue of contention was again aldermen. Leader of the house Mukesh Goyal appealed that the presiding officer should not allow the nominated members (aldermen), who are ineligible to vote in mayoral election, to sit in the chamber during the voting. This was the standoff point on January 6 too when the AAP had accused the BJP and LG Vinai Kumar Saxena of trying to get numbers on their side.
Clarifying his party’s stand on the issue, AAP’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said as per the civic body agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, Councillors are supposed to take the oath before the aldermen. “The people of Delhi have given a huge mandate to the AAP, which must be respected. We appeal to the BJP to cooperate in convening the House and the elections tomorrow based on this agenda list,” he said.
“Police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed outside the House as part of security measures,” the official said. Several Councillors and Delhi MLAs, including AAP member Atishi, reached the House to cast their votes.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia asked the BJP to accept their defeat in the MCD polls and help ensure smooth conduct of mayoral elections.
After the oath of aldermen and elected councillors, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes during which a number of BJP councillors started moving into the House, chanting “Modi, Modi”, and raised slogans against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. Mr. Sisodia, a senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, also accused the BJP of “running away from the election of mayor”.
“Everyone saw the drama of the BJP. The public had got fed up with their rule in the MCD. They gave mountains of garbage to Delhi and ruined the entire capital,” Mr. Sisodia said. “First, they avoided MCD elections and when the public has showed them the door, they are running away from the election of mayor,” he said.
Presiding officer Satya Sharma later announced that the House was adjourned till the fresh date was announced for the mayoral election. But high drama continued. BJP leaders were seen shouting slogans against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP. Meanwhile, AAP councillors said they would not leave the chamber till voting would take place.
