Delhi civic election announcement deferred over ‘plan’ to merge 3 corporations

Delhi state election commissioner SK Srivastava said the decision to postpone the civic elections in Delhi was taken after a communication from the Centre

The Delhi state election commission (SEC), which was expected to declare the schedule for elections to the three civic bodies, put off the announcement at the last minute, citing a communication from the central government about plans to merge the three municipal corporations.

Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at the BJP, saying the Centre’s communication was aimed at putting off the elections because the BJP wasn’t prepared to face the people. (ANI)

The poll announcement has been postponed because the poll panel received a communication from the Centre stating that it has plans to unify the three municipal corporations, state election commissioner SK Srivastava told a Press conference on Wednesday evening.

“We have received a communication from the Centre after which we decided to postpone the announcement of the poll schedule. We will take legal opinion on the matter,” said Srivastava.

He did not share a copy of the communication from the Centre.

The central government hasn’t commented on the plan to merge the three municipal corporations created in 2012 after trifurcating the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Back then, MCD was the country’s largest civic body in terms of geographical area, and the second biggest in Asia after Tokyo.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the effort to defer the municipal elections reflected that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP has conceded defeat. “People of Delhi are very angry. They are saying the BJP doesn’t dare hold elections and now, they will ensure deposits of BJP candidates are forfeited,” Kejriwal said in a tweet.

The chief minister, who is also convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), also claimed that the party’s internal survey had indicated it would win 250 out of 272 seats. “Now we will get more than 260 seats,” he said, nudging the state election commission not to come under pressure of the BJP.