Behind the brawl: MCD panel that controls finances, makes decisions

The single vote, officials said, related to one seat where the race was tight -- the BJP was expected to easily grab two while three were within comfortable margin of AAP.

New Delhi: The closely fought contest – numerically and literally -- for the standing committee of the most powerful municipal committee illustrates the precarious power balance that has emerged in the Capital’s wards between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the fate of a single vote that the mayor sought to negate holding the key for who controls the all-power Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

BJP councillors and AAP councillors come to blows at MCD Headquarters in Civic Center in New Delhi on Friday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Friday’s election is still under cloud, with the mayor having decided to declare a vote illegal it but a report by the municipal secretary disputed it. Taking into account the vote the mayor sought to be invalidated, the two parties, the secretary’s report said, get an even 3-3 seats in the six standing committee berths that are elected directly by the councillors.

The single vote, officials said, related to one seat where the race was tight -- the BJP was expected to easily grab two while three were within comfortable margin of AAP.

The standing committee is a powerful 18-member body of the corporation that controls the finances of the MCD and all policy proposals, including the budget, which are presented first in the standing committee and only after its approval do these end up with the house of councillors.

Out of the 18 members, six are elected directly by the house; the remaining 12 members are elected by the 12 zonal wards committees of the 12 administrative zones in MCD. After all 18 members are finalised, a member among them is elected as the chairman through elections.

The report submitted by the technical expert Ravi Praksh, according to a copy seen by HT, stated that BJP and AAP have managed enough votes to elect three members each. In an official report about the day’s proceedings, municipal secretary Bhagwan Singh took a different stance from the mayor. The report stated that as per the independent expert who assisted in the counting, the vote was found to be valid.

“Since no vote was found invalid by the technical expert, Mohini (AAP), Md Aamil Malik (AAP), Ramnder Kaur (AAP) Gajender Singh Daral (BJP), Kamaljeet Sehrwat (BJP), Pankaj Luthra (BJP) were found elected by them,” the report signed by municipal secretary states. It adds that there was no need to undertake recounting as the counting process was videographed and during counting process there was “no murmur of protest.”

In the ballot paper for this election, councillors are expected to write their preference as 1, 2,3,4... A vote casted by member which had written preferences among seven candidates as 1, 2, 2 instead of 1,2, 3 order of preference was the point of contention. The mayor ruled that the vote was invalid.

She was seen engaging in arguments with the municipal secretary and secretariat staff over the decision to count the vote as valid during the proceedings. An MCD official, who asked not to be named, said that declaration of one vote to be invalid can lead to AAP winning four seats instead of three.

After the elections are over, the MCD house will pass resolution to hold the elections in the zonal committees for which nominations will be invited and dates fixed. Normally, these elections take 1-1.5 months to complete but process may be held in shorter time frame due to truncated tenure. As per the current distribution of councillors, aldermen (who will have voting rights in zones), give BJP an edge in six zones--Narela, Civil Lines, Keshavpuram, Najafgarh, Shahdara South, Shahdara North.

AAP has advantage in five zones -- Rohini, City SP, Karol Bagh, West, South zone – while the Congress has two decisive votes in tightly contested Central zone (1), which might ultimately decide the fate of standing committee.

Taking into account a tied 3-3 result from Friday election, if it stands, the BJP could have nine members in the 18-member panel.

While mayor has announced a re-election, BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that the party does not support it and will push for the results to stand.