Hours after Shelly Oberoi was declared the new Mayor of Delhi, a full-blown fistfight broke out between members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party inside the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House over the election of the Standing Committee members on Wednesday. The AAP and the BJP councillors also threw water bottles at each other inside the House.
The high-voltage drama continued well past midnight.
After the Deputy Mayor elections were completed, Ms. Oberoi had adjourned the House for over an hour, which was followed by the voting for the Standing Committee members. Around 6 p.m., close to 50 ballots were issued for the election of Standing Committee members and 45 votes were cast when BJP councillors raised objections that Ms. Oberoi allowed councillors to carry their mobile phones inside the voting booth. They accused the AAP councillors of clicking photos of their ballot papers to ensure that there was no cross-voting. This led to heated arguments which turned into a physical fight around 11 p.m. Mukesh Goel, AAP councillor and the party’s leader of the House in the MCD, dismissed the allegations and said the BJP councillors did not want to let the elections take place. “We will push for the elections to be conducted even if we have to spend the night here,” said Mr. Goel.
The BJP councillors demanded that the voting be started afresh since 45 votes were already cast. Around 11.40 p.m., the Mayor adjourned the House for one hour and said it will reconvene after midnight.
BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said AAP first obstructed the Standing Committee poll by allowing the use of phones and later by making its men “throw” water bottles from the visitors’ gallery.
AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said that just recently the MCD polls were held and the Election Commission had said voters can carry their mobile phones with them while going to cast their ballot.
