Top office-bearers of the three municipal corporations failed to make the cut, as per a new report released here on Monday that gave them between grades C and E for their performance as elected representatives in 2015-16.
None of the current or former Mayors, Leaders of the House, Leaders of the Opposition or Standing Committee chairpersons scored an A or even a B grade.
The first annual report card of Delhi’s councillors by Praja Foundation rated the members of the corporations on their track record, including attendance at meetings, number of times they raised any important issue and their public perception. The organisation carried out a survey among 29,000 Delhiites to assess the perception of councillors, apart from using Right to Information replies from the municipal secretaries’ offices on attendance and participation of councillors.
In the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, where the overall score was 56.2 per cent, current Leader of the House Vijay Prakash Pandey and Standing Committee chairperson Parvesh Wahi got a grade of D. They were councillors in 2015-16. Current North Delhi Mayor Dr. Sanjiv Nayyar, who was also a councillor that year, got a C grade, as did current and then-Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Goel.
Mohan Prasad Bhardwaj, who was the Standing Committee chairperson in 2015-16, and Yogender Chandolia, who was the Mayor in 2014-15, both got a C. Former Mayor Meera Aggarwal got an E, or less than 50 per cent.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation, where the average score was 56 per cent, saw top leaders score low marks too. In fact, Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay, who is the councillor from Malviya Nagar, got an E grade.
Low scores
Two former Mayors of SDMC, Sarita Choudhary (2013-14) and Khushi Ram (2014-15), also got E grades. The Leader of the Opposition, then and now, Farhad Suri, got a C grade. Current Mayor Shyam Sharma and Standing Committee chairperson Shailender Singh got D grades.
Two former Mayors of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Annapurna Mishra (2012-13) and Meenakshi (2014-15) got grades of E for their performance. The EDMC scored the lowest overall, with 54.5 per cent.
Councillors of the ruling-BJP, which has been in power in Delhi’s municipalities since 2007, scored an average of 57.05 per cent or grade D, making it the second-best political party.
The Nationalist Congress Party was the best performing party, with an average of 57.18 per cent or grade D. The Congress, which is in Opposition, scored an average of 55.48 per cent, also grade D.
The organisation behind this report hopes that it leads to some soul-searching in political parties as well as voters ahead of the municipal polls next year. “Our focus has been on the participation of the elected representatives. We hope to use this report card as a means to initiate accountability among them,” said Nitai Mehta, a founding trustee of Praja Foundation.
