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Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal dares BJP to 'conduct MCD polls on time’: ‘Insult to the martyrs who…’
The State Election Commission (SEC) officials said that the announcement of the schedule for the civic body polls will depend on the amended Delhi Municipal Corporation Act.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the delay in civic body polls after the Union Cabinet approved a Bill to merge the three municipal corporations. In a series of tweets, the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dared the BJP to let the State Election Commission “conduct the MCD polls on time”, asking if elections can be postponed on the pretext of merging the three municipal corporations.
“Can the election be postponed because of this? Tomorrow, if they are losing Gujarat, can they avoid saying that they are uniting Gujarat and Maharashtra? Can the Lok Sabha elections be postponed on a similar pretext?” he tweeted.
On Tuesday, the SEC officials said that the announcement of the schedule for the civic body polls will depend on the amended Delhi Municipal Corporation Act. The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, is likely to be tabled in Parliament next week, according to Union home ministry officials aware of the matter.
Kejriwal said that the postponement of MCD polls is an “insult to the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives to drive the British out of the country and establish democracy”.
“Today they are postponing the elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi fearing defeat, tomorrow they will postpone the elections of the states and the country,” he wrote on Twitter.
The AAP leader added that “the world's largest party ran away from a small Aam Aadmi Party in panic? If you have the courage, conduct MCD election on time.”
According to the DMC Act 1957, elections to the municipalities in Delhi shall be conducted before the expiry of the House in the three civic bodies, which means the new houses will have to be elected before May 18. However, a senior SEC official said that the deadline for conducting the polls will become futile when the Centre unifies the three civic bodies.
