New Delhi: Drama regarding election of one member in 18 member assembly standing Committee Of Delhi Municipal Corporationwhich lasted for two days and ended BJP councilor Sunder Singh Tanwar Winning on Friday afternoon. Tanwar’s victory from Bhati ward was certain because both AAP And the Congress – each for its own reasons – withdrew from the process.
BJP now has 10 members and AAP has eight members in the standing committee. This allows the former to select its candidate as chairperson of the committee. However, this will not happen without facing obstacles. The proposal to form a committee requires the approval of the House.
Given that AAP has majority in the House, there is every possibility of the motion being postponed lg Intervenes and issues directions under section 487 of IPC Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act.
The confrontation between the two parties is expected to continue at different stages, such as when the Mayor has to approve the file which will be sent through Chief Minister Atishi.
Earlier in the day, AAP councilors withdrew their names from the elections saying that the Commissioner’s decision to go ahead with the elections despite the LG’s order and Mayor Shelly Oberoi’s decision to postpone the elections till October 5 on Friday was against the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act. Is a violation of.
As per the procedures and timing specified by the corporation during the beginning of Friday’s meeting, the municipal corporation officials waited for two and a half hours to complete the election process. After the BJP councilors cast their votes, everyone remained in the House till 3.50 pm, which gave time to the absent councilors to cast their votes. Before the counting began, the names of the missing councilors were called four times.
Additional Commissioner Jitendra Yadav, who was presiding over the meeting, announced the results, which showed 115 votes in favor of Tanwar and zero votes for AAP candidate Nirmala Kumari, councilor from Sainik Enclave. “Considering the fact that the qualifying quota for the election is 58 votes, the BJP candidate is declared the winner and member of the standing committee,” the MCD said in a statement.
Just an hour before the elections, Mayor Oberoi had issued a letter directing the Commissioner not to postpone the elections, stressing the need for legal compliance in holding the Standing Committee elections on the revised date.
“When your order was issued late at night on September 26, there was insufficient time for the councilors to reach the said meeting. In fact, most of the councilors have not even received the notice of the meeting till 10 am on September 27. Therefore, expecting them to attend the meeting in such a short time is not only a violation of their electoral rights as public representatives but also a violation of fair democratic rights. The process and principles of natural justice,” he said, declaring the commissioner’s order ‘null and void ab initio’. In fact, he had asked them to declare Friday’s election “illegal and illegal”.
Oberoi also termed LG’s instructions as unconstitutional. “This order is illegal and unconstitutional as it is in gross violation of the statutory scheme of the DMC Act and the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1958,” he said in the letter. AAP also issued a statement saying that Rule 51 of the DMC Act states that the standing committee members should be elected in the corporation meeting.
It was informed that Regulation 3(2) states that the power to decide the date, time and place of the meeting of the Corporation rests solely with the Mayor. It pointed out that Section 76 of the DMC Act makes it clear that the presiding officer for any meeting should be the Mayor and in his absence, the Deputy Mayor, and in his absence, any other councilor may play the role. Therefore, no other person (including Additional Commissioner etc.) can be appointed as the Presiding Officer under any circumstances, the party said.
Responding to this, an MCD official said that the House was adjourned on September 26 and could be called for a meeting within an hour. “Besides, the session was called only to hold elections which have been long pending. The Mayor should have powers to preside over and convene meetings under the DMC Act but he did not exercise it. Even the Deputy Mayor, Aale Mohammed and senior member Mukesh Goyal refused to chair the meeting, which is why the LG was contacted and he canceled his decision under Section 487 of the DMC Act, ” the officer said.
This section empowers the Central Government to issue directions to the corporation or any municipal authority if the duty imposed on the corporation or authority has not been performed or has been performed inadequately or inappropriately. This applies even if adequate financial provisions have not been made for the performance of a duty.
The mayor had initially postponed the election to October 5 due to the disruption caused by the search of councilors on Thursday. However, the LG had rejected the postponement and directed Commissioner Ashwini Kumar to conduct the elections at 1 pm on Friday.
Subsequently, the commissioner issued an order late in the night, appointing Additional Municipal Corporation Commissioner Jitendra Yadav as the returning officer to preside over the meeting and oversee the election to the seat that fell vacant after the demise of the BJP leader. Kamaljit Sehrawat Elected MP from West Delhi.
“The standing committee has not been formed for 21 months. This decision was taken in the larger public interest and to preserve the democratic spirit of the municipal body and invoking Section 487 of the DMC Act. Mobile phones were not allowed for secrecy of ballot,” the commissioner said in his order.
