NEW DELHI: A fourth attempt will be made on Wednesday to have the mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elected. On February 17, the Supreme Court gave the civic body 24 hours to issue notification for the mayoral election and directed the pro tem presiding officer to oversee only the mayor election, not those of the deputy mayor or the Standing Committee members. The court also held that the nominated aldermen couldn’t participate in the election process.It was because of these issues, now clarified by the Supreme Court, that the three earlier attempts to hold the mayoral elections proved abortive. After the adjournment of the MCD House for a third time on February 6, AAP’s mayoral candidate, Shelly Oberoi, had approached the apex court on the matter.While presiding officer Satya Sharma said the Supreme Court’s direction would be heeded and the election process would be held as per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, BJP, which is numerically disadvantaged against AAP, expressed concern about the completion of the election of the Standing Committee members.The powerful Standing Committee has 18 members, six of them elected by the House. The remaining 12 are elected by the 12 zonal committees. While the numbers are stacked against it in the mayoral poll, BJP hopes to win most of the Standing Committee posts.Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “We strongly apprehend AAP disrupting the House proceedings once the mayor’s election is completed.”Leader of AAP in MCD Mukesh Goel retorted, “It was not us but BJP which delayed the elections for two and half months. We were forced to go to the Supreme Court twice to get the election process completed in a constitutional manner. As soon as our mayor is elected on Wednesday, she will immediately organise the polls for the deputy mayor and Standing Committee members.”AAP has a strength of 151 in MCD — 134 elected councillors, 13 MLAs, 3 MPs and a supporting independent councillor. BJP has 112 in its favour — 104 elected councillors, 7 MPs and 1 MLA.In a statement on Tuesday, AAP said, “Everyone in Delhi is aware that every decision in MCD is being taken for BJP’s political gains, including permitting nominated aldermen to vote by the presiding officer. But after the rap by the Supreme Court, MCD will have a mayor and all this harassment by BJP will come to an end.”Kapoor defined AAP’s claim that once its mayor was elected it would end corruption in MCD as a “big joke”. He alleged, “For two months, MCD has been run in two ways. The headquarters is being run as per administrative protocol, but the zonal offices have already been taken over by AAP’s councillors.”
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/mcd-to-make-fourth-attempt-to-pick-mayor-today-but-aap-bjp-war-of-words-continues/articleshow/98130747.cms