Mayor's election stalled again amid AAP-BJP standoff, AAP to move SC

New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House failed to elect a mayor even in the third attempt following a ruckus on Monday after the presiding officer said that the aldermen nominated by LG will vote in the polls, prompting an agitated AAP to announce it will move the Supreme Court.

Both the BJP and AAP have accused each other of preventing the mayoral polls, with the bone of contention being the appointment of aldermen and their voting right in the House. AAP, which has a majority with 134 out of 250 elected members, has alleged that the BJP was trying to steal its mandate by giving voting rights to the nominated members.

The AAP on Monday said it wants mayoral polls to be "Supreme Court-monitored". Soon after the MCD House assembled around 11:30 am, after a delay of half an hour, presiding officer Satya Sharma announced that aldermen will be allowed to vote in elections to the posts of mayor, deputy mayor and Standing Committee members which will be held simultaneously. Sharma cited the 2016 High Court ruling in North Delhi Municipal Corporation Vs Onika Mehrotra case for the direction.

This drew protests from AAP councillors, with party leader Mukesh Goel contending that the aldermen are not allowed to vote under the law.

AAP alleged that the 2016 high court ruling that the presiding officer referred to was wrongly quoted. After a while, AAP members sat down, but BJP councillors started raising slogans and asked AAP not to prevent the mayoral polls.

Soon after the slogans died down, presiding officer Sharma said that AAP councillors Akhilesh Tripatjhi and Sanjeev Jha should not be allowed to vote because they have corruption allegations against them.

This drew a sharp reaction from the AAP councillors. BJP councillors then started protesting, demanding the removal of Tripathi and Jha from the House.

The MLAs are among the 14 AAP legislators nominated by the Delhi Assembly Speaker to the MCD in December.

Amid the pandemonium, the House was adjourned for 10 minutes and then for the entire day.

Outside the House, AAP leaders questioned the denial of the voting right to Tripathi and Sanjay Jha, contending that the court had suspended their sentence.

"So, if there is a stay, how can they not have a voting right," Sanjay Singh said during a press conference.

The standoff between the BJP and AAP had stalled the election process during the earlier two sessions of the municipal House on January 6 and 24.

After emerging from the House, AAP leader Atishi told reporters, "We will go to the Supreme Court, and we will go today itself so that the mayoral elections can be held in a court-monitored manner." "Our demands are that the mayoral election should be held in a time-bound manner in the next two weeks and the aldermen should not be allowed to vote," she said.

BJP MP Harsh Vardhan, who came to the House on Monday, however, said the aldermen have been "given the right to vote by a court" and the "presiding officer is doing everything as per the law".

"My appeal to the councillors, irrespective of whether they belong to AAP or BJP is that wisdom should prevail upon them and they should ensure that the voting takes place in an amicable manner," he said.

Speaking to PTI, AAP Mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi rued: "This was the third time the house meeting was held and here we are again without the mayor. The intention of the BJP was clear from the very beginning. Everything that was held in the house was unconstitutional. " Atishi claimed the BJP had planned to disrupt the proceedings so that the House could be adjourned.

Addressing a press conference, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said: "We will go to the Supreme Court now to have the mayoral election conducted." "The BJP is strangulating democracy and the Constitution of India. The presiding officer allowed the aldermen to vote in mayoral polls, which is wrong as per the Constitution and is against democracy," he alleged.

The presiding officer also said the polls to elect the mayor, deputy mayor and six members of the Standing Committee will be held simultaneously, which is also wrong as the agenda stated that the mayoral elections will be held first, the AAP leader pointed out.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House after the civic polls. However, it has been two months since the municipal elections were held on December 4 and Delhi is yet to get a mayor.