NEW DELHI: Delhi may have given its verdict and elected a new corporation in the first few days of December but it seems set for an agonising wait before the corporators can get down to business. After the House was adjourned on January 6 amidst unprecedented scenes, it reconvened on Tuesday but once again failed to elect the mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee members.For a while, it seemed things were on course when the presiding officer, Satya Sharma, ignored AAP’s objection to the aldermen being sworn in first, with only some token opposition from the AAP councillors. Once the nominated members were sworn the elected members took their oath. Just when it seemed peace would prevail, and even as arrangements for electing the mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee members were being made, an unanticipated chain of events unfolded, leading to the presiding officer abruptly adjourning the House till a next date.The House meeting started at 11.09am. AAP councillor Mukesh Goel objected to the aldermen being sworn in first, a point of contention last time. He argued that there was no such precedent and cited the MCD Act. Sharma, however, brushed aside his objections, saying, “As the presiding officer, I have decided to call the nominated members first.” She called them one by one to the dais and completed the process.Demand to remove members who don’t have voting rights from House sparks commotion This time, the AAP councillors stuck to hooting the nominated members one by one with cries of “shame, shame” with the BJP councillors countering it with slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.The 250 elected councillors were the next to be sworn in, 11.30am onwards. Many took the oath in Indian languages other than Hindi, like Punjabi, Urdu, Maithili and even Sanskrit.An AAP councillor concluded his oath by raising a pro-Arvind Kejriwal slogan which was opposed by BJP members who demanded that he take the oath again as this violated the norms.Once the councillors were sworn in, the presiding officer called for a brief interval to make arrangements for holding the election for the post of mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee members. BJP councillors started chanting ‘Modi, Modi’, and raised slogans against Kejriwal and deputy CM Manish Sisodia.The House resumed at 2.33pm and AAP councillor Mukesh Goel asked for members without voting rights to be removed from the house. Other AAP councillors supported him and this led to some commotion followed by an adjournment. Ten minutes passed and the presiding officer left the House, followed by senior BJP councillors. Meanwhile, when AAP councillor Praveen Kumar went to the podium to consult the municipal secretary, the BJP councillors started heckling him. They said elected councillors can’t go to the podium and talk to officials unless the process for the mayoral election was completed. While marshals and civil defence volunteers were guarding the podium and removing everyone (except for officials and the presiding officer) from the dais, another scuffle broke out in the House.BJP councillors alleged that an AAP councillor had used unparliamentary language against an MP and misbehaved with others. AAP leaders denied the allegation but both groups entered into a heated argument in the aisle. Some women AAP councillors were seen pleading with the BJP councillors to restore order.”AAP has been losing patience and acting insanely. One of their councillors used abusive words against an MP and unnecessarily entered into an argument though we tried to stop him,” said Arjun Marwah, councillor from Lajpat Nagar. BJP councillor and nominee for mayor Rekha Gupta added that the AAP councillors had misbehaved with women councillors.Agitated BJP councillors then went towards the benches where AAP councillors were sitting and raised slogans. “We can’t run the House in these circumstances. Hence, I am adjourning the house till next date,” presiding officer Satya Sharma proclaimed.AAP MLA Jarnail Singh told TOI that BJP didn’t have a majority which is why their councillors were behaving the way they did. “We didn’t react when they administered oath to the nominated members first. While we were sitting peacefully till the end, BJP councillors were continuously prompting us to enter into a scuffle because they had no other option but to delay the mayoral election,” he said.After the House was adjourned, BJP councillors chanted “Modi, Modi” outside the hall, on the fourth floor of Civic Centre. Some BJP leaders squatted there with placards that read, “Kejriwal ke gundon, gundagardi chor do.” This lasted for around an hour.Meanwhile, AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Durgesh Pathak and Atishi continued to sit inside the hall with councillors and sang hymns, insisting that they won’t leave until the lieutenant governor gave a date for the next House meeting. By 7.30pm, they seemed to have resigned to what had happened and left.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/mcd-house-adjourns-once-again-without-electing-mayor-deputy/articleshow/97291158.cms