Chaos derails MCD mayoral poll again

Elections for Delhi’s mayor and deputy mayor were stalled for the second time in three weeks on Tuesday as ruckus broke out in the civic house minutes after the nominated members and councillors were sworn in, sparking a verbal battle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Elections for Delhi’s mayor and deputy mayor were stalled for the second time in three weeks on Tuesday as ruckus broke out in the civic house minutes after the nominated members and councillors were sworn in, sparking a verbal battle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Chaos derails MCD mayoral poll again

For around three hours, 10 nominated members, known as aldermen, and 249 elected councillors, were administered the oath by presiding officer, BJP’s Satya Sharma. But soon after, as booths for the mayoral elections were set up, BJP members started sloganeering against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, prompting the presiding officer to rule that the elections were being postponed due to disorder.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the AAP councillors were maintaining peace, and BJP members intentionally attempted to create ruckus. “It is now clear that the BJP is running away from the elections. This is against the constitution and democracy,” he added.

AAP’s mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi and deputy mayoral pick Aaley Mohammad Iqbal appear to have the numbers on their side.

The BJP, on its part, blamed the AAP for the chaos.

“The way AAP disrupted the House as soon as the mayoral elections was scheduled to begin, it has become clear that Kejriwal doesn’t want Delhi to get a mayor,” said BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.

The results of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections were announced on December 7 last year, with the AAP winning 134 seats in the 250-member House, the BJP 105, and the Congress nine. But seven weeks have since passed without a new mayor due to political clashes, an unprecedented stalemate for the Capital that is likely to hurt civic governance.

On January 6, the first meeting of the newly constituted MCD descended into an ugly brawl as councillors fought pitched battles on the floor of the House, exchanging blows, climbing on tables to shout slogans, jostling with each other, and even attempting to hurl furniture into the melee. The scenes on Tuesday were, in comparison, milder.

With Sharma adjourning the House indefinitely, senior municipal officials said there was no clarity on when the House could next convene. The lieutenant governor’s (LG) office has not commented yet. This means that the political gridlock has delayed the election of a mayor for the first time since the inception of a local body in the Capital in 1957.

On Tuesday, the MCD House convened at 11.15am with heavy security presence and guards ring-fencing the dais from the councillors. Sharma, the BJP councilor from Gautampuri, announced that the aldermen will take oath first and appealed to maintain peace for orderly conduct. This group of 10 nominated members don’t have voting rights but may decide the balance of power in a key committee that controls the purse strings of the civic body.

AAP leader Mukesh Goyal said the party had no objection to the aldermen taking oath, but said elected members should be sworn in first. The objection was overruled by the presiding officer, but unlike January 6, AAP members did not protest but shouted slogans as the nominated members took oath.

The process for the 249 elected members lasted close to three hours, with each round followed by competing chants from the treasury and opposition benches, but there was no physical scuffles. While most oaths were administered in Hindi, around a dozen members also used English, Sanskrit, Punjabi and Maithili for the process.

After the oath-taking was complete around 2.20pm, Sharma called for a break for making arrangements for the polls of mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee members. Two separate booths -- a pink one for mayor and a white one for deputy mayor -- were set up but BJP councillors started shouting slogans against Kejriwal and Sisodia, alleging corruption in excise policy and governance. AAP lawmakers such as Atishi and Durgesh Pathak were seen attempting to calm down AAP councilors. While the House reconvened around 2.33pm, Goyal appealed that the aldermen not be allowed inside the chamber as they had no voting powers.

With sloganeering continuing, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes, during which councillors briefly jostled over issues ranging from the presence of “outsiders”, alleged use of unparliamentary language and an AAP councillor going up to podium to discuss a matter with the municipal secretary.

A small section of councillors were seen jostling in the corner. The pathway on left of the house was packed with BJP councillors, even as a BJP and AAP councillor were seen arguing. Eventually, most people present in the chambers gathered around the two individuals. The packed crowd then started pushing each other, even as AAP MLA Atishi and a few others from the party tried to cool tensions. As the din grew, the presiding officer adjourned the house.

The issue over which the arguments started was not clear but BJP later claimed that its member was verbally abused while AAP stated that BJP came with a pre-meditated plan to adjourn house.

Sharma cited this incident to adjourn the House indefinitely, sparking a blame game.

“If BJP has the courage then they should accept their defeat now. If the BJP has any faith in democracy and the Constitution, then they should accept the fact that the people of Delhi have defeated them. They should now let the mayoral elections happen without any disruption,” Sisodia said.

Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, however, claimed it was the AAP leaders who created a ruckus. “The goons of AAP, who were inside the House as well as outside, together behaved indecently with the BJP councillors and MPs. Democracy and the Constitution are being made fun of by AAP leaders. The AAP councilors remained silent till the swearing-in process, but as the mayor’s election was about to take place, they once again started a ruckus,” he said.

A group of BJP councillors, led by its mayoral candidate Rekha Gupta, alleged that AAP councillors misbehaved with them, and abused BJP MP Gautam Gambhir. “They don’t want the House run smoothly,” she added.

The AAP’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said, “We said that the MCD agenda does not say the nominated councillors will take oath first. After the oath, we asked them to at least give us the voter list for the mayoral election, but they got the House adjourned for 15 minutes. As soon as the ballots for the mayoral election started arriving, we demanded a complete voter list. Immediately, the BJP councillors started abusing and creating a ruckus.”

AAP lawmaker Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the BJP was scared of elections. “LG should order mayor elections even if it occurs a 5.30 or 7.30pm.. We will remain sitting here. BJP is scared and running away from the election,” he added.

MLA Durgesh Pathak said that the people of Delhi are waiting for their mayor. “All our councillors are honest and patriots. The BJP could not buy them,” Pathak said, carrying out a roll call of 135 councillors, 13 MLAs, and three MPs.