BJP fears loss yet again, alleges AAP as MCD House adjourned before standing committee elections

New Delhi [India], February 23 (ANI): The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House was adjourned for the 13th time this morning until 10 am tomorrow due to a ruckus by the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party councillors for the election of the members of the standing committee.
There was vandalism in the House, Rekha Gupta, the BJP Mayor candidate, allegedly broke the podium. Amit Nagpal tore the ballot paper and threw the ballot box. The Mayor said that the decision on the action is to be taken against Rekha Gupta and Amit Nagpal in tomorrow’s meeting.

The repeated adjournments took place amid the sloganeering in the House.
The councillors were seen throwing ballot boxes in the well. The early morning visuals also showed them pushing each other and also exchanging blows.
The BJP councillors alleged that during the secret voting, the AAP councillors were taking photographs of the ballots through their mobile, which is a violation of the secret ballot.

Therefore, the BJP demanded the votes cast be rejected and fresh elections conducted.
Speaking to ANI, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP does not want to let the standing committee members’ elections take place due to the fear of loss.

“The BJP is not able to tolerate its defeat. They are not ready to accept that the people of Delhi have rejected them and showed them the door out of the MCD. The elections are taking place after the order of the Supreme Court or else these elections would not have taken place. They lost the Mayor elections, Deputy Mayor elections, now they will lose the standing committee elections also which is why they are not letting it take place,” he said.

The AAP leader alleged that the BJP councillors “stole” the ballot box and went down to the level of hooliganism.
“We saw last night that the BJP stole the ballot box. The Mayor tried to convince them, but the BJP is resorting to hooliganism. We will sit here until the voting concludes,” he said.
Durgesh Pathak alleged that the BJP is frustrated which is why they want to stall the standing committee elections.
“The BJP is completely frustrated. After losing both Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections, they do not want the standing committee elections to take place which is a betrayal of the votes of the people of Delhi,” he alleged.
Earlier, during the clash, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi had alleged that BJP councillors tried to attack her during the Standing Committee elections.

Taking on Twitter, Shelly Oberoi alleged, “BJP Councillors just tried to attack me while I was conducting the Standing Committee elections, as per Supreme Court orders! This is the extent of BJP’s Gundagardi that they are trying to attack a woman Mayor.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Shelly Oberoi was elected as the new mayor of Delhi after having secured 150 votes.
“I assure you all that I will run this House in a constitutional manner. I expect you all will maintain the dignity of the House and cooperate in its smooth functioning,” Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi said as soon as she was elected as the mayor.
Terming it a “huge responsibility”, the newly elected mayor expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. “Today, I got an opportunity to serve the people of Delhi”.

“Goondagardi (Hooliganism) has been defeated,” Shelly Oberoi took potshots at the ruling BJP.
“Truth has prevailed. Today, it has been proven that the people of Delhi have won. It is not the victory of AAP. It is a victory of democracy. It is a victory of the people of Delhi,” Oberoi said.
The voting began at 11.30 am after the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi Mayor election be conducted. The court also ruled that the aldermen (nominated councillors) would have no right to vote.

Later in the day, AAP candidate Aaley Mohammad Iqbal was also elected as the new deputy mayor of Delhi.
He was able to defeat BJP candidate Kamal Bagri, by bagging 147 votes as compared to 116 of Bagri.
The last three attempts to elect the Mayor failed due to the political bickering between the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party. They met for the first time on January 6, second on January 24 and last on February 6.
The municipal elections in Delhi were held on December 4 and the results were announced on December 7. Aam Aadmi Party won 134 seats out of 250.