BJP councillors protest before standing committee polls in the MCD House, at Civic Center in New Delhi on February 24, 2023.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The MCD House reconvened on February 24 to make another bid to hold the election of members of the municipal corporation’s standing committee. The voting commenced a day after the session was adjourned as chaos ensued in the form of loud sloganeering, fist fights and clashes between the AAP and BJP councillors.
The newly-elected Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Friday said that voting for standing committee members will start afresh after the previously cast ballots were damaged during the physical clashes between councillors on Wednesday.
A total of seven candidates — four from the AAP and three from the BJP — are in the fray for the six standing committee member posts. Friday’s meeting was scheduled to resume at 10 a.m., but the House officially started the session at around 11.10 a.m.
Earlier today, hours before the standing committee elections, AAP Councillor Pawan Sehrawat said he has joined the BJP as he felt “suffocated” by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. He alleged that the members were instructed to create ruckus within the House.
As members waited for the sitting to begin in the House, many BJP councillors chanted “ Pawan Sehrawat ka swagat hai” and cheered and flashed victory signs to welcome him to their camp, PTI reported, adding that Mr. Seherawat wore BJP party colours and flashed victory signs inside the chamber.
Many BJP councillors can be heard chanting “ Apni ghadi sahi karao, Mayor madam sadan mey Aao” as they waited for the proceedings to resume.
The proceedings to conduct the election for picking members of the committee — the highest decision-making body of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) — had begun around 6.15 pm on Wednesday, hours after AAP’s Shelly Oberoi was elected as Delhi’s new Mayor. However, the sitting, punctuated with over a dozen adjournments, vociferous protests by BJP members, high-voltage drama and high-decibel sloganeering, spilled over to the next day, until the mayor adjourned it for the day.
Several members of the BJP and the AAP on Wednesday night had exchanged blows and hurled plastic bottles at each other in the chamber of the MCD House, and the situation turned uglier on Thursday morning, even as the stalemate over the election continued.
Following the fracas, security has been padded up at the headquarters of the MCD, including the chamber and on the premises of the Civic Centre, on Friday, according to PTI. An extra layer of security frisking has been introduced on the fourth floor, where the chamber of the House is situated.
The BJP has been demanding fresh voting citing violation of ballot secrecy by AAP councillors carrying mobile phones while casting their votes during the initial phase of the election to pick the panel members, before the House was disrupted.
Seven candidates are in the fray for the six members of the standing committee.
Aamil Malik of Sri Ram Colony ward, Raminder Kaur from Fateh Nagar ward, Mohini Jeenwal of Sundar Nagari ward and Sarika Chaudhary of Daryaganj ward are AAP’s candidates.
Kamaljeet Sehrawat from Dwarka-B ward and Pankaj Luthra from Jhilmil ward are BJP’s candidates.
Independent councillor Gajender Singh Daral, who later joined the BJP, is also a candidate.