BJP wins MCD panel poll, gets control of civic body’s main decision-making arm

Sunder Singh Tanwar, who had defected from the ruling party to BJP in August, wins the election; AAP boycotts the poll, says it will challenge the election process in court; Cong. councillors abstain

Sunder Singh Tanwar, a BJP councillor from south Delhi’s Bhati, won the election for the last remaining seat on the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)’s 18-member Standing Committee on Friday. Mr. Tanwar, who got all 115 votes of his party’s councillors, defeated Nirmala Kumar, nominated by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which decided to boycott the poll, terming it “illegal and unlawful”. The Congress abstained from the proceedings.

AAP said it will challenge the election in court, claiming “infirmities” in the poll’s conduct.

Addressing the Assembly earlier in the day, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said, “The BJP has wrongly overpowered the MCD and stolen the mandate. There is something wrong with their intentions. That is why they pulled out all the stops to hold the MCD Standing Committee election.” Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused the BJP of “murdering” democracy.

However, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said, “Due to Arvind Kejriwal’s obstinacy, the election for the Standing Committee member became an issue of internal democracy in the corporation. The BJP has won and protected democracy.”

With Friday’s victory, the BJP has secured control of the civic body’s main decision-making arm that has executive powers to grant approval to projects worth over ₹5 crore, with 10 members against the ruling AAP’s eight.

Interestingly, the winning candidate had switched over from AAP in August this year. He is among the 10 councillors who defected from the ruling party to the BJP since the December 2022 civic elections, in which AAP won 134 seats, the BJP 104 seats, and the Congress nine, with three seats being won by Independents. After the defection of three of its councillors earlier this week, AAP’s tally reduced to 124 — two seats below the halfway mark, while the BJP’s increased to 115. The Congress continues to have nine councillors and two seats are represented by Independent councillors.

Mayor’s objections

The election was scheduled to happen on Thursday but was postponed twice and adjourned till October 5 by Mayor Shelly Oberoi. However, hours after her announcement Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena overruled her and directed MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar to conduct the poll the same day. However, the election could not be held as AAP councillors had left the MCD headquarters by then.

On Friday, the process started in the absence of AAP councillors after Mr. Kumar appointed Additional Commissioner Jitendra Yadav as the Presiding Officer.

However, Ms. Oberoi wrote to the MCD Commissioner stating the Presiding Officer had to be the Mayor or, in her absence, the Deputy Mayor or the senior-most councillor of the House.

She termed the process a “gross violation of the statutory scheme of the DMC (Delhi Municipal Corporation) Act” and directed him to declare the process “null and void”.

In a statement, AAP said, “The power to fix date, time, and place of the meeting of Corporation vests solely with the Mayor.”

The 18 members of the Standing Committee will now elect a Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson to conclude the constitution of the panel.

The election was necessitated after a seat on the panel was vacated by BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat, who won the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat in the recently held general election.

Published - September 28, 2024 01:14 am IST