Delhi: MCD House faces repeated adjournments amid sloganeering by AAP, BJP

New Delhi [India], February 23 (ANI): Amid heavy sloganeering by the councillors, the proceedings of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) were adjourned for the third time after being resumed late Wednesday night.

Chaos erupted in the house during the election for the members of the standing committee when BJP alleged that during the secret voting, the councillors were taking photographs of the ballots through their mobiles, which is a violation of the secret ballot. Henceforth, BJP has demanded the votes cast be rejected and fresh elections be conducted.

While the house was adjourned, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj hit out against BJP and said, “BJP councillors are trying to postpone the standing committee polls. Supreme Court had clearly said that all elections should happen in the first seating. So, we want the elections today only, whether it happens at night or in the morning.”
He added saying, “BJP deliberately wants to conduct the whole election of standing committee again. In this way, the process will never end. The MCD Secretary has also said that they only have 245 ballots, and we can’t conduct the whole election again.”

AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar also attacked BJP accusing it of doing “hooliganism” in the house.
“BJP doesn’t have numbers and wants to form a standing committee by hooliganism. We are ready for election on directions of the Supreme Court. Bottles were thrown in the MCD house. People of Delhi are watching the way BJP wants to postpone standing committee elections,” he said.
Hitting back at the AAP, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla called it an “Anarchist Acrimonious Party”.

“AAP = Anarchist Acrimonious Party. Fearing defeat and cross-voting; you engineer every attempt to sabotage and steamroll rules and laws! Then play the victim card! If this is how affairs will be conducted on Day 1 by the Mayor people of Delhi better brace themselves,” he said on Twitter.
BJP leader Harsh Khuranna said that secret voting can’t take place by showing the mobiles.

“What kind of secret voting takes place by showing the mobiles? We have a simple demand that re-poll should be conducted and 55 councillors whose votes were given should be declared null and void,” he said.
BJP leader Harsh Malhotra said, “We know that our three councillors are winning easily as per the second preference. We just want that the elections should happen without mobile”.

Attacking AAP, BJP leader Arjun Pal Singh said, “Phones shouldn’t be allowed during ballot voting but phones were allowed, and we objected to it. Our demand is to restart the voting when 50 people already voted and clicked photos. We were threatened and attacked when we protested,” he said.

BJP leader RP Singh hit out against AAP on Twitter saying, “What type of voting is done with mobile phone? Aam Aadmi Party is making fun of MCD elections. Mayor Shelly Oberoi was getting voting done with mobile in the Standing Committee elections. When spoken, the councillors of Aam Aadmi Party came down on abuse.”
“Shame on you Arvind Kejriwal. We were saying from the very beginning that you will not allow the Standing Committee elections to be held after the Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections and you have proved that you will not allow the Standing Committee elections due to the fear of defeat,” Virendra Sachdeva said on Twitter attacking AAP.

Meanwhile, 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 in the day, Shelly Oberoi was elected as the new mayor of Delhi after having secured 150 votes on Wednesday.
“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 earlier in the day.

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.