New Delhi: After the Delhi Municipal House was adjourned for the third time on Monday without electing a mayor, AAP leader Atishi said the party will move the Supreme Court and seek the conduct of the polls within a week to ten days under its supervision.
After the House was adjourned, Atishi, while addressing a press briefing, said:
"The Aam Aadmi Party is going to the Supreme Court today. We will appeal to the apex court that the MCD elections should be held within one week to ten days under their supervision. Satya Sharma arbitrarily adjourned the House indefinitely."
She said:
"We will also challenge the BJP's decision to give the voting rights to the aldermen.
"Last time we withdrew our petition against the BJP because by then the dates for mayor polls were approved and the voting rights of aldermen were also not clear whether the nominated members will vote or not, but today it is clear, they have illegally given the Voting rights to aldermen. We will move to the Supreme court and challenge the BJP's decision," she said.
She alleged:
"It was their pre-planning to stall the mayoral election as many of their MPs were not present in the House. Manoj Tiwari, Gautam Gambhir, Hans Raj Hans were not present in the House, that's why they did not allow the election to take place," she claimed.
Meanwhile, AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said:
"The nation has again witnessed how the BJP did not allow elections to be held by strangulating democracy, constitution and DMC Act.
"The Presiding Officer, who has the right to conduct the election of Mayor only, said that the election of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Standing Committee members will be held simultaneously and aldermen will also vote", Singh added while addressing the media.
"This is a complete violation of the constitution. Now this whole matter will go before the court, we hope that we will get justice from there," Singh added.
Earlier, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House was adjourned without electing a mayor for the third time in a month on Monday.
As soon as the House reconvened to elect Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Standing Committee members, both the BJP and AAP members resorted to sloganeering. An uproar erupted over the nominated members being allowed to vote in the election to the post.
Following the ruckus, the chair adjourned the House until the next date.
MCD Presiding Officer said that the polls to elect mayor, deputy mayor and Standing Committee members will be held simultaneously. She also said that as per the DMC Act aldermen are eligible to vote in the mayor and deputy mayor polls.
However, the AAP councillors protested and raised slogans against the aldermen being allowed to vote for the mayoral election.
AAP's councillor and Leader of the House Mukesh Goel said:
"The Supreme Court order clearly says that aldermen can only vote in ward committee polls but cannot vote in the mayor polls. This is completely illegal."
The BJP leaders started raising slogans -- "Khareed farokht band karo, humare neta kharidna band karo (stop trying to buy our leaders)" inside the House after which Presiding officer Satya Sharma adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
The presiding officer said that anyone who does not hold voting rights has to leave the house. AAP leader Akhilesh Pati Tripathi and Sanjeev Jha were asked to leave the House, as they do not have the voting rights. After this, the AAP councillors again started raising slogans against the BJP members.
"Elections cannot be held in such an atmosphere. The House is adjourned until the next date," said presiding officer Satya Sharma.
The BJP councillors and MPs left the House, while the AAP councillors were still sitting inside and refusing to leave.
Delhi MCD house called to elect Mayor and Deputy Mayor was adjounred two times before - first time on January 6, 2023 and for the second time on January 24, 2023.
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