The exercise to elect a new mayor of Delhi failed for the third time in a row after members of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP caused a ruckus in the municipal House on Monday, reported India Today.
Proceedings in the House, which convened for the third time after the 4 December municipal polls, were disrupted as AAP members staged a huge protest over voting rights for aldermen.
The brouhaha erupted after Presiding Officer Satya Sharma announced that the members nominated by Delhi L-G VK Saxena will also be allowed to vote in the elections for mayor, deputy mayor and Standing Committee members. She had earlier announced that elections would be held simultaneously.
AAP councillors immediately raised an outcry. Party leader Mukesh Goel said aldermen can’t vote. BJP leaders started raising slogans against the AAP.
Amid pandemonium, the House was adjourned until the next date and the mayoral elections were postponed yet again.
After the adjournment, AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj accused Presiding Officer Satya Sharma of rigging the polls and said the party will have to approach the Supreme Court to ensure a fair election.
“Polls of the mayor, deputy mayor can take place today only if fair means are used. But this presiding officer wants to rig the election of deputy mayor and Standing Committee members. That is why she is holding the three polls together,” Bhardwaj told India Today.
The first two sessions — held on 6 January and 24 January — were adjourned by the presiding officer without electing a mayor following a ruckus and acrimonious exchanges between the members of the BJP and the AAP.
According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House that convenes after the civic polls. However, it’s been two months since the municipal elections were held and Delhi is yet to get a mayor.
The AAP has accused the BJP, which won 105 wards in the MCD polls, of trying to influence and manipulate the election process, reads the report.
