The Maiden MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) House meeting has been adjourned for the day. The next date will be announced later, BJP councillor Satya Sharma, the presiding officer overseeing the process, said.
The maiden meeting of the newly elected MCD House was adjourned without electing the mayor and the deputy mayor amid loud protests by AAP councillors over first administering oath to the 10 aldermen. The MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) House meeting has been adjourned for the day. The next date will be announced later, BJP councillor Satya Sharma, the presiding officer overseeing the process, said.
Chaos ensued during the first meeting as AAP councillors and MLAs raised slogans and entered the Well when Sharma began the process of administering oaths to the 10 aldermen. The AAP councillors and MLAs protested over the alderman and not the elected representatives being administered oath first.
The BJP councillors retaliated by raising slogans against AAP and its convener Arvind Kejriwal. Amid the chaos, both sides also alleged manhandling by the opposite camp. The meeting began with Sharma being administered the oath as presiding officer for the elections to the posts of MCD mayor and deputy mayor.
After Sharma invited alderman Manoj Kumar to take oath, AAP MLAs and councillors began to protest. Many also rushed to the well of the House, shouting slogans. In the melee, the oathtaking was stopped and the meeting disrupted as the AAP councillors stood on the tables, including those of the presiding officer. The BJP councillors also gathered around and exchanged heated words with their AAP counterparts.
"The House was adjourned for one hour. Four aldermen took their oaths. We will resume the meeting soon and the rest of the aldermen will take their oaths first," Sharma told PTI.
For the first time, the newly-elected Municipal Corporation will meet since AAP's landslide victory in the December election, ending the BJP's 15-year rule.
The AAP, which emerged victorious with 134 in the 250-member municipal House, wants its leader as the mayor.
Three names are in the running for the post of mayor are Shelly Oberoi, Ashu Thakur from AAP and Rekha Gupta from the BJP.
The deputy mayor will also be elected, besides the swearing-in of councillors and the election of a mayor.
The nominees for the post of deputy mayor are Aaley Mohammad Iqbal (AAP), Jalaj Kumar (AAP) and Kamal Bagri (BJP).
Delhi is about to have one mayor for the entire city for the first time since 2012. Previously, the municipal corporation was divided into three segments, with each having its own mayor. It was unified, and a poll was held on December 4
The post of mayor in Delhi sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, second for open category, third for reserved category, and the remaining two also being in the open category.
Besides 250 councillors, 14 Delhi MLAs, 7 Lok Sabha MPs and 3 Rajya Sabha MPs from Delhi are nominated and have a vote in the mayor election.
Voting will be done through a secret ballot. Any councillor can vote for any candidate of his choice, and the anti-defection law does not apply in this case because it is impossible to find out who voted for whom in a secret ballot.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena over the "unconstitutional" manner in which 10 aldermen were nominated to the MCD by bypassing the Delhi government, saying this was a complete departure from the settled practice.
In a related development, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has also written to the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, asking him to "desist" from taking any further action on the issue.
Aldermen refers to people who are experts in their fields. However, they do not have voting rights in the mayoral election.
Ten aldermen were nominated to the MCD ahead mayoral poll.
The first municipal House after the high-stakes civic polls on December 4 is scheduled to take place on Friday when all newly elected councillors will take oaths and the mayor and the deputy mayor will be elected.
Kejriwal said that traditionally, all files pertaining to nominations under Section 3(b)(i) are routed through the Urban Development Department which is the nodal department of the Municipal Corporation.
"Such files are required and have, in the past, always been put up to the Minister-in-Charge of the Urban Development Department/Ministry.
"It is, therefore, unfortunate that recently, in a complete departure from this settled practice, files were routed directly by the MCD - Commissioner to the Lieutenant Governor completely bypassing the Delhi government. This is contrary to law and the Constitution," read Kejriwal's letter to Saxena.
Kejriwal claimed the nomination was done "entirely bypassing the Council of Ministers of the democratically elected Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi".
"It is with a considerable degree of dismay and consternation that I, as the chief minister of the Government of Delhi, am compelled to address another communication to you drawing reference to conduct which while in the past was an aberration has, today, unfortunately degenerated into an increasingly recurring practice of endemic proportions whereby no stone is being left unturned and no effort is being spared to interfere with and impede the day-to-day administration and functioning of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
"Such series of actions are blatantly unconstitutional, a colourable exercise of power, apart from constituting a fraud on the Constitution and display a worryingly scant regard for provisions of the Constitution, the law laid down by the highest court of the land as also settled convention and practice of the Government of Delhi," he said.
Kejriwal also flagged "an attempt to rig the composition of the standing committee of the MCD through these nominations". In the letter, he said it appears to be an attempt "to influence the process of elections to the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation by the nomination of these members".
"It is pertinent to note that these 10 members have been intentionally chosen to represent three zones out of 12 of the municipal corporation," he said.
Since one member of the standing committee gets chosen from each zone, the attempt quite clearly is to ensure that the composition of the panel is skewed in favour of the persons belonging or owing allegiance to the ruling party at the Centre and thereby subvert the will of the electorate in the recently concluded elections to the municipal corporations, Kejriwal alleged.
The chief minister further noted that the amendments to the MCD Act too do not bring any change to the established practice of nominations.
Noting that local bodies is a "transferred subject" over which the democratically elected government has legislative and executive decision-making authority and jurisdiction, Kejriwal said the LG is constitutionally required to act in terms of the aid and advice tendered by the council of ministers.
"This position has also been authoritatively settled by the judgement of the Constitution Bench in State (NCT of Delhi) v Union of India (2018). I, therefore, respectfully beseech you once again to reconsider the nominations made by you having due regard to the provisions of the Constitution, the law laid down by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court as also past practice and convention with regard to such nomination, and recall the decision taken by you in this regard," he added.
Sisodia also wrote to MCD Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti over the "bypassing of elected state government" during the nominations of aldermen and directed him to desist from taking any further action in regard.
Calling himself the competent authority in the matter who has been completely bypassed, he claimed the nomination is contrary to Article 239AA of the Constitution as well as to the interpretation made by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.
"It is unfortunate that this kind of action has been resorted to while bypassing the elected government of Delhi. I call upon you to desist from taking any further action upon the illegal notification and with regard to the swearing-in of the 10 persons. Files related to such nominations are always sent by the Municipal Corporation through the Urban Development Department, which has not been done in this case," he added.
The Delhi Congress will not take part in the city civic body's mayoral election slated to be held on January 6, its chief Anil Chaudhary said on Thursday.
Chaudhary said the Delhi unit of the Congress has unanimously decided not to support the Aam Aadmi Party or the BJP in the elections for the posts of mayor, deputy mayor and the leader of the house in the Municipal Corportion of Delhi.
"Delhiites who elected Congress councillors, voted for them to raise the issues affecting them and work for their welfare and not to fulfil the patrician agenda of AAP and BJP. Our councillors will walk out of the House before voting," he said.
He further said the Congress will fight to protect the interest of the people.
"Through secret ballot, Congress selected three Councillors for the leadership of the party in the MCD. While Nazia Danish will be the leader of the party in MCD, Sheetal will be her deputy and Shagufta Chaudhary will be the chief whip," Chaudhary said.
(With PTI Inputs)