MCD House adjourns amid impasse over standing committee members election; AAP, BJP trade charges

The overnight impasse in the election of standing committee members of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi continued Thursday morning as the House was finally adjourned till Friday, amid demands by the BJP for fresh voting citing violation of ballot secrecy by AAP councillors carrying mobile phones while casting their votes.

The MCD House witnessed high drama punctuated by as many as 15 adjournments from Wednesday evening through the night till early Thursday morning, with both AAP and BJP councillors indulging in brawls, slogan shouting and staying put in Civic Centre - the MCD headquarters.

In a report submitted to AAP mayor Shelly Oberoi and MCD commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, the secretary of the civic body recommended fresh elections citing "badly bruised" election process.

He sought time for printing of a new set of ballot papers, saying that traditionally the elections were held with a stock of 300 ballot papers.

Meanwhile, videos of commotion in the House with AAP councillors getting physically engaged in the ruckus went viral on social media. A video shared by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) showed BJP councillor Rekha Gupta and other councillors on the dias throwing away things kept there.

The BJP leaders, on the other hand, shared a video claiming party councillor Pramod Gupta was slapped by AAP councillor Devender Kumar.

AAP convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal could not attend celebrations at the AAP office over the victory of his party on the mayor and deputy mayor posts, as the DDU Marg where it is located near ITO was heavily barricaded by police due to a protest by the Delhi BJP.

The MCD House, which was adjourned more than a dozen times overnight, was convened at 8.30 am on Thursday. Within an hour, it was adjourned for the day amid slogan shouting and ruckus. The mayor decided to adjourn the House till 10 am on Friday.

Addressing a press conference at Civic Centre, Oberoi alleged that ballot papers were torn by BJP councillors during the election.

“It is shameful what the BJP councillors did. The ballot box was thrown and ballot papers were torn and I was attacked,” she alleged.

"BJP's Rekha Gupta and Amit Nagpal resorted to hooliganism in the House and we will take action against them,” she said.

Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh alleged that the saffron party is “not being able to accept their defeat” in the MCD mayoral polls.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor demanded the MCD commissioner to secure a video recording of the MCD House meeting and demanded the mayor to suspend her party councillor Devendra Kumar for allegedly "slapping" BJP councillor Pramod Gupta.

In a joint press conference, BJP leaders, including party MPs Manoj Tiwari and Parvesh Verma, alleged that the AAP planned the conspiracy to interrupt standing committee members elections fearing its defeat.

They demanded fresh voting for the elections of six members of the standing committee alleging secrecy of ballot was violated due to the mayor's permission to councillors to carry mobile phones while casting votes.

The clashes between AAP-BJP members on Wednesday were triggered by a bitter argument between the two sides over the mode of conducting the election to the members of the standing committee.

Verma said Oberoi allowed councillors to carry mobile phones to the booth area while casting their votes, despite objection by BJP councillors.

Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra said the AAP has fielded four candidates and the BJP three for the committee which can have six members.

The AAP is afraid that one of its candidates will face defeat due to a lack of the required number of votes which is why their councillors "started a ruckus" inside the House, Malhotra charged.

Verma claimed the use of mobile phones was allowed by the mayor to keep a check on cross-voting by AAP councillors. Earlier, during the mayor's election, AAP councillor Mukesh Goel had demanded that mobile phones and pens should not be allowed which was accepted by presiding officer Satya Sharma, he said.

AAP councillors who cast their votes were clicking pictures and sending them to their party leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, Verma claimed.

Oberoi said the allegations of the BJP were incorrect as there was no provision that prohibited mobile phones inside the polling booths, provided they are on silent mode.

Senior AAP leader Atishi also questioned the BJP's demand for fresh voting and said, "What kind of a precedent is the BJP trying to set? Their demand to invalidate certain votes is without any basis."

She alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the MCD House is making a mockery of democracy.

North East Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari claimed the AAP leadership was fearful of cross-voting by its councillors and therefore, its mayor allowed mobile phones while casting votes.

He also accused the AAP councillors of resorting to "hooliganism".

"Creating a ruckus during standing committee members election was a well-planned conspiracy by the Aam Aadmi Party. The process was not fair as ballot secrecy was violated by AAP councillors carrying mobile phones while going to cast their votes," Tiwari said.

Verma claimed that a total of 55 ballots were distributed for the election, out of which 45 were used for casting votes while the remaining were unaccounted for.

He also claimed that the ballot box was sealed after the instruction of the mayor without the presence of any BJP councillor.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh alleged that mayor Shelly Oberoi's vehicle was attacked by workers of the BJP who were protesting near the party office on DDU Marg.

"Had the marshals not been present in the House, a huge mishap could have happened as female councillors of the party were targeted by the BJP councillors," Singh alleged.

He added the Supreme Court had ordered to conduct of the election of the mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee together and the AAP is committed to following the court ruling.