AAP, BJP councillors exchange blows, mayoral poll postponed

New Delhi, January 6

Elections for the post of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi could not be held on Friday as the first meeting of the House had to be adjourned after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors exchanged blows.

The clash took place over the decision to administer oath to 10 nominated members (aldermen) before the elected councillors.The ruckus began soon after BJP councillor and Pro-tem Speaker Satya Sharma began the process of administering oaths to the nominated members. Soon a scuffle broke out between the members of both the parties.

APP councillors claimed the move was BJP’s ploy to get the aldermen to vote in the mayoral elections, even when nominated members weren’t permitted by law to vote. Following the chaos in the house, Pro tem speaker Satya Sharma adjourned the House until the call of next meeting, which will be decided by L-G Saxena.

“The date for the next meeting will be announced later,” Sharma said. Soon after, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shot off a letter to Lieutenant General VK Saxena saying that the oath administration to aldermen was unconstitutional.

Kejriwal cited Article 243 R of the Constitution saying it “debars nominated members from voting in the MCD House and any attempt to get them to vote is unconstitutional”.

AAP Senior Leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who was present in the meeting, said, “BJP has been defeated. They are now creating pandemonium on the floor of the House. They (BJP) want the nominated members, who have not received even a single vote from the residents of Delhi, to vote in the election of the Mayor and other key posts. This has never happened in the history of the MCD.”

The BJP, however, claimed it was the discretion of the presiding officer to decide the order of administering oaths to the councillors.

Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi, who is a Lok Sabha member from New Delhi, addressing a press conference, said, “BJP women councillors suffered cuts during the ruckus. They are anarchists. L-G and Pro tem speaker followed the law.”