For the second time in two days, Mayor Shelly Oberoi ordered fresh polling for the posts of six Standing Committee members in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) even as the MCD House saw violent clashes between AAP and BJP councillors. Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra accused the Mayor of tampering with the results and urged the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to dissolve the House.
Adjourning the House on Friday, Ms. Oberoi ordered that voting for the six-member Standing Committee, the apex decision-making body of the MCD, be held again at 11 a.m. on February 27. Confirming the development, the MCD director for press and information Amit Kumar said that the municipal secretary has issued a notice for fresh polls to be held on Monday.
The Standing Committee elections started at 11 a.m. and concluded at 2:30 p.m. The row between the two parties began when around 5:30 p.m. the Mayor declared one of the 242 votes cast in the elections invalid, prompting an outcry from the BJP. Ms. Oberoi subsequently invited representatives of both parties to join the process of recounting votes. Around 7:45 p.m., she announced that as no BJP leader was willing to participate in the recounting, she would announce the results minus the invalid ballot. Violence erupted soon after this announcement. Similar scenes of scuffles and fistfights had unfolded in the House during the meeting on Wednesday.
AAP alleged that the BJP councillors barged onto the podium and attacked the Mayor, forcing her to flee the House. Later on Friday, Ms. Oberoi tweeted, “Requested an urgent appointment with the @DelhiPolice Commissioner tomorrow regarding the attack on me by BJP councillors in the MCD House!” Chief AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed to have shot a video in which a woman officer escorting the Mayor to safety said she had been bitten on her hand. Senior AAP leader Atishi said the attack on Ms. Oberoi was not just an embarrassment for Delhi but the entire nation.
‘Results are clear’
The BJP claimed that three of its candidates had won in the polls where none of the votes had been declared invalid by the officials counting the ballots. “We do not agree with the decision to call for fresh voting. The results are clear — three of our candidates won and their fourth candidate — Sarika Chaudhary — lost today,” said Mr. Malhotra.
A letter undersigned by the MCD municipal secretary Bhagwan Singh noted that none of the votes polled on Friday was found to be invalid and that there was “no need” to seek a recount.
However, AAP councillor Prem Chauhan said the BJP councillors were requested to participate in the recounting process to maintain transparency. “If they had an issue, they should have communicated it calmly. There was no reason for the BJP councillors to indulge in violence,” said Mr. Chauhan.
The BJP alleged that several of its councillors were injured in attacks by AAP councillors and shared a picture of their party’s councillor from Anarkali ward, Meenakshi Sharma, with injury marks on on hand.
A senior police officer said they had received complaints from both parties regarding injuries sustained by a marshal during the ruckus in the MCD House on Friday. “No case has been registered yet,” the officer said.
