NEW DELHI
In a dramatic turn of events, the Delhi State Election Commission on Wednesday deferred the announcement of the dates to the civic body polls in the Capital.
State Election Commissioner (SEC) S.K. Srivastava announced the decision citing “a letter from the Centre proposing the unification of the three municipal corporations”.
Mr. Srivastava, who was scheduled to address a press conference regarding the poll dates at 5 p.m., said he had received the letter at “4:30 p.m.”. The poll panel, however, clarified that the civic polls “have neither been deferred, nor cancelled”.
Reacting to the development, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “BJP has run away. MCD polls have been postponed, [BJP] conceded defeat... But the Election Commission should not have come under the pressure of BJP.”
BJP sources told The Hindu that the letter in question was dispatched to the SEC by the Centre at 4 p.m., two days after “verbal discussions” on the unification of the three civic bodies between Mr. Srivastava and Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal. According to Delhi BJP sources, the process of unification is expected to span “from six months to a year”. “A senior bureaucrat chosen by the Centre” will head the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi as “administrator” after the tenure of the current civic bodies — trifurcated in 2012 by the then Congress government at the Centre — expires in mid-May this year.
‘Bill to be tabled’
Speaking to The Hindu, a senior SEC official said the Central government’s letter “conveyed its intention to introduce a Bill in the ongoing Parliament session for the unification of the three municipal corporations”. “We are currently examining this and taking legal opinion; we are not abdicating from our responsibility. If we fail to announce election dates by April 18, then you can say that we are facing pressure,” he said.
The senior official added that the SEC aims to complete the elections by “May 18”, before the expiry of the current term of the three houses. “Unless we get a clear picture of what the new development regarding unification will finally be, we cannot comment on what will happen. However, we are committed to conducting the elections under the Constitutional provisions and stipulated time frame.”
Launching a scathing attack on the poll panel and the BJP, AAP leader Manish Sisodia said the Election Commission (EC) “got scared” of the BJP and refused to declare the election dates. “Today is a very unfortunate day for the country’s democracy... This is very dangerous,” he said.
“Why is the Election Commission scared of BJP? Tomorrow, if BJP feels that they will fail in the election in any State, they won’t conduct the election? Tomorrow, if Modi ji feels that he will fail the general election, then that election will be cancelled? If cancellation of elections comes under the power of elected governments, then what will be left in democracy?” he asked. The AAP leader alleged that everyone in Delhi is “unhappy with the corruption in the BJP-ruled municipal corporations, and that has got the BJP scared”.
A senior BJP leader said the objective of unification is to prove that the municipal corporations are capable of doing good work but “were not able to as they were deliberately handicapped by the Delhi government”. “Over the coming months, a unified MCD will receive the funds directly from the Centre via the Ministry of Home Affairs and will get to work in sprucing up schools, hospitals, city parks, roads and paying pending salaries,” the leader said.
Issue over financial dues
Rumours related to the unification being considered a “political coup of sorts” by those within and outside the BJP had been doing the rounds since November last year. According to BJP sources, the genesis of the idea lies in back-to-back developments revolving around financial dues of ₹13,000 crore, which the party claims is owed by the AAP government through the latter half of 2020 and the first half of 2021. TheBJP has been at the helm of the three municipal corporations for the last 15 years.
“All the three Mayors (of North, South, East corporations)had sat on a hunger strike for 13 days outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, demanding the dues, in December 2020 but the Delhi government did not relent. The matter was taken to the High Court, which directed the city government to disburse funds in early 2021 but it still did not release the actual due amount,” a BJP leader alleged.
“After this, a delegation from the Delhi BJP unit had met the party’s national president, J.P. Nadda, seeking his intervention. The Centre then began examining the proposal – both legally and bureaucratically – and decided to proceed,” the leader added. Party sources said Union Home Minister Amit Shah could be the “political face of the new MCD” and may hit the ground himself to drive home the “achievements of the unified civic body” by the time elections to it are announced “in future”.
With inputs from Nikhil Babu
