Delhi mayor polls: AAP, BJP councilors clash; no election today
Clashes erupted between the newly-elected councilors of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday at a meeting to elect the mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). A scuffle over the order of oath-takers broke out between both parties during the first meeting of the House, and the election has been deferred until further notice, said reports.
Why does this story matter?
The MCD was to elect Delhi's next mayor and deputy mayor on Friday. In fact, provisional election IDs were also allotted to all the newly-elected 250 municipal councilors who were to exercise their voting rights to elect the House's chief and second-in-command. However, following a scuffle over oath-taking between the AAP and BJP councilors, the mayoral polls have been postponed until further notice.
AAP demanded elected councilors be administered oath first
Councilors of the AAP and the BJP physically clashed, with reports saying they pushed and hit each other, on Friday while raising slogans against PM Narendra Modi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, respectively. The chaos erupted after BJP councilor and Presiding Officer Satya Sharma invited alderman Manoj Kumar to take the oath. AAP leaders demanded that elected councilors be sworn in before nominated members.
BJP's Satya Sharma appointed Presiding Officer
On Friday, the first meeting of the newly-constituted civic body was convened in the presence of Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at Aruna Asif Ali Sabhagar in New Delhi's Dr. SP Mukherjee Civic Centre, before the councilors clashed. Earlier on Thursday, the L-G nominated BJP councilor Sharma as the Presiding Officer for the first House meeting to hold the mayoral polls, which irked the AAP.
BJP hell-bent on destroying democratic traditions: AAP leader
After Saxena appointed Sharma as the Presiding Officer, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj tweeted, "It is the tradition that the senior most member of House is nominated as protem Speaker or Presiding Officer. But BJP is hell bent destroying all democratic traditions and institutions (sic)."
AAP and BJP nominees for mayor, deputy mayor's posts
For Friday's election, there are three nominees for the mayor's post. The AAP has nominated Shelly Oberoi and Ashu Thakur (backup candidate) to run against the BJP's Rekha Gupta. As per PTI, Oberoi is the AAP's main contender for the mayor's post. Meanwhile, the nominees for the deputy mayor's post are Aaley Mohammad Iqbal and Jalaj Kumar from AAP, and Kamal Bagri from BJP.
Congress to not take part in MCD mayor polls
On Thursday, Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary confirmed that the party wouldn't participate in the civic body's mayoral polls. Chaudhary also revealed that the grand old party's Delhi unit unanimously chose not to support the BJP or the AAP in the polls for the mayor and deputy mayor's posts of the municipal corporation of the national capital.
AAP's record-breaking win during 2022 MCD polls
The Delhi mayoral polls are happening just a month after the December 4 MCD polls, which saw Arvind Kejriwal's AAP beat the BJP and end the saffron party's 15-year reign in the civic body. During the 2022 MCD elections, the AAP bagged 134 seats, while the BJP won 104 wards. Notably, Congress managed to win just nine wards in the 250-member municipal body.
