Kejriwal hails victory as AAP tightens grip on governance

The election of mayor — the first since the unification of MCD — concluded after three failed attempts over the past two months, with AAP’s Shelly Oberoi being elected to the post.

Election of the Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate Shelly Oberoi to the post of Delhi’s mayor is a defeat for the “goons” and a “victory” for the people, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said, as the stalemate between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the AAP over the election finally came to end on Wednesday after more than two months.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi. (PTI)

AAP’s Aaley Mohammad Iqbal was also elected as the deputy mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi; Kejriwal congratulated both the candidates after their election. “The goons lost, the public won. Today in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the people of Delhi won and hooliganism was defeated. Congratulations to the people of Delhi on Shelly Oberoi being elected as the mayor of Delhi. Congratulations to Aaley Iqbal on being elected as Delhi deputy mayor. It is a victory of the people of Delhi,” Kejriwal said in two separate tweets.

Kejriwal was scheduled to visit the AAP headquarters on Wednesday evening for his address after the victory, but the programme was postponed as the election of the standing committee members went on till late Wednesday night.

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, while thanking the people of Delhi and congratulated the two candidates, said that the AAP won despite opposition from the Centre, lieutenant governor and the BJP.

“The BJP, the central government, and even the LG all went against the constitution and tried to stop it, but the people of Delhi did it. MCD Mein Bhi Kejriwal (MCD also under Kejriwal),” Sisodia tweeted.

The lieutenant governor’s office did not respond to the allegations.

Meanwhile, the BJP alleged that the AAP councillors openly cross voted in the mayoral elections, besides obstructing the election of the standing committee members.

The AAP has been in power in the Capital since 2015. The party wrested power from the BJP in the municipal polls for the first time on December 7 last year, winning 134 out of the 250 wards. With Wednesday’s election of AAP candidates on the two highest posts, the ruling party has tightened its grip on the governance in the national capital.

The election of mayor and deputy mayor — the first since the unification of MCD — was concluded after three failed attempts over the past two months. Oberoi won 150 votes of the electoral college, which includes 250 councillors, Delhi parliamentarians and 14 MLAs. BJP’s Rekha Gupta managed to secure 116 votes.

Oberoi said the AAP in MCD will fulfil all the 10 guarantees put forward by Kejriwal. “The first order of business will be to start work on CM Arvind Kejriwal’s 10 guarantees, and MCD’s official proceedings will start from Thursday onwards itself. I will inspect the city’s landfills in the next three days as part of our mission to clean Delhi,” said Oberoi.

Iqbal, meanwhile, said the AAP in the civic body will work hard to make sure that the works of MCD set a new standard for the rest of the country. “We will all work tirelessly to catch up with all the pending works,” said Iqbal.

The AAP on Wednesday also slammed the central government and LG VK Saxena for allegedly “hatching a conspiracy” against the ruling party, wasting many days and trying to delay the mayoral elections.

AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said: “Delhi finally got a mayor 80 days after AAP was voted to power in MCD in December last year. After that result, there was no doubt that the mayor of Delhi will be from the AAP. But the BJP-led central government and the LG hatched a conspiracy and tried to form a BJP-led government in the MCD, which was against the wishes of the people.”

The AAP and the BJP were locked in a sustained war of words over the mayoral polls ever since the process was initiated in December last year. Delhi tried to get mayor on three previous dates — January 6, January 24 and February 6. All three attempts to elect the mayor have failed following an impasse over multiple issues including the legality on whether nominated members (10 appointed by the LG) can be allowed to vote in the mayoral polls. On all the three occasions, the MCD House was presided over by Satya Sharma, a BJP councillor, whose decisions sparked tussle between the AAP and the BJP.

During the February 6 mayoral polls, Sharma said the nominated members will be allowed to vote, triggering opposition from the AAP. Presiding officer Sharma said all her decisions abide by the Constitution, and she will accept the orders of the Supreme Court. The BJP contended that the nominated members can vote while the AAP opposed the move and challenged it in the Supreme Court.

The apex court on Monday last week observed that all 10 nominated councillors cannot vote in the MCD mayoral polls.

“AAP went on to win 150 votes, which means that every legislator and councillor of AAP firmly stands with Arvind Kejriwal and it is on his behest that they will be willing to give their sweat and blood for the party. BJP can poach legislators of Congress and other political parties but it cannot try to break away AAP leaders,” said Bharadwaj.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor alleged that AAP councillors openly cross voted in the elections. “There were 150 votes of AAP while two independents and one Congress councillor openly announced their support to the AAP, taking their tally to 153 but AAP got only 150 votes in the mayoral polls. The BJP, on the other hand, which originally had 113 votes got 116 votes in the polls, which shows that three AAP councillors voted for BJP,” Kapoor said.