Delhi MCD Mayor Polls: Arvind Kejriwal writes to Delhi L-G; BJP leaders to sit on dharna

As the Delhi Mayoral elections were stalled by the ruckus inside the civic centre on Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena of "issuing orders" on every subject including the ones he has "powers to do or not".

In a letter to the LG following the adjournment of the first day of the civic centre when the oath was to be administered to the newly elected councillors, Kejriwal said that there have been "bizarre developments" in the last few weeks on the part of Saxena.

He accused the LG of issuing direct orders to the Chief Secretary, "bypassing and ignoring the elected government".

"Last few weeks have seen some very bizarre developments. Hon'ble LG is directly issuing orders on practically every subject irrespective of whether it is reserved or transferred, irrespective of whether Hon'ble LG has the powers to do that or not. Hon'ble LG issues directions directly to the Chief Secretary who in turn gets them implemented completely bypassing and ignoring the elected govt," Kejriwal wrote.

"One would ask why are the officers implementing LG's illegal orders? Because Montle LG has complete control over the bureaucracy. LG has the power to transfer, suspend or take any other action against any employee of the Delhi govt. Unfortunately, the elected govt of Delhi has no control over employees," he added.

Citing the instance of the nomination of the 10 members by the LG, Kejriwal said that there was a tradition of the nomination of such members by the Delhi government, which was even followed by previous LG Anil Baijal also.

"For instance, as per Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 10 members with specialized knowledge could be nominated by the state govt. Till date, for the last many decades, these ten members were always nominated by the elected govt of Delhi," he said.

He said that the present LG "dictated ten names with BJP background and directed the Chief Secretary to issue notification".

"Chief Secretary complied. The elected government came to know from the newspapers. Since this is a transferred subject, as per the Constitution, it is the elected govt which had the power to nominate these members," the Chief Minister said.

(ANI)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after the MCD House was adjourned without electing the Mayor and Deputy Mayor amid a ruckus. The saffron party alleged that AAP councillors were "drunk" and attacked its leaders with "blades". Read FULL STORY HERE.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders will sit on dharna on Saturday against the attack on its councillors during the MCD session on Friday. The dharna will take place at Rajghat.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday termed the move to invite the nominated councillors for taking oath ahead of the elected ones in the Mayoral polls "unconstitutional" while citing the Constitution.

"Article 243R of the Constitution clearly debars nominated members from voting in the House. Attempt to get them to vote in the House is unconstitutional," Kejriwal tweeted sharing the snippet of the Article.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers demonstrate outside Delhi civic centre amid a ruckus by AAP over administering oaths to aldermen.

"BJP is trying to do backdoor entry in MCD by illegal means. BJP lost the MCD elections but now they are conspiring against AAP. They came with planning today. It is well-established that nominated councillors can't vote," AAP MLA Atishi said.

"AAP created complete anarchy today. There shouldn't be the gunda raj. There shouldn't be Jungle Raj," says BJP's Parvesh Verma after MCD mayor polls ruckus.

After the MCD meeting abruptly ended and mayor elections were put on hold, BJP Mayor candidate Rekha Gupta said, "AAP fears losing. Climbing on the table of the presiding officer, breaking mics and throwing chairs-the culture they are developing is condemnable. Some of them (AAP councillors) had come to the MCD house after consuming liquor."

As per the sources, few BJP councillors has been critically injured during the ruckus. They have been taken to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Delhi state BJP president Virendra Sachdeva will be reaching RML hospital for getting MLC done of Corporators who are hurt.

Amid the ruckus over Mayor elections, BJP councillors alleged that AAP councillors were drunk and misbehaved with women councillors on the floor of the house.

Lieutenant Governor House issued statement on Delhi Mayor polls, stating LG of Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena who is the 'Administrator' has nominated 10 persons under Delhi Municipal Corporation Act (DMC Act) 1957

Amid chaos and clash between AAP, BJP councillors over Delhi Mayor Polls, MCD house adjourned before the commencement of voting for mayor elections.

Presiding officer Satya Sharma spoke about the BJP and AAP faceoff over Mayor polls,"I appealed for the normal proceedings but they want to create a ruckus & climbed the desk. If they sit peacefully, we are ready for the swearing-in of everybody".

High-voltage ruckus bretween AAP and BJP continues at Civic Centre as the swearing-in of nominated councillors gets disrupted.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took to Twitter and attacked BJP. He said, "How low will BJP people stoop to hide their misdeeds in MCD! Elections were postponed, illegal appointment of the presiding officer, illegal appointment of nominated councilors, and now the public's elected councilors are not being administered oath. If you cannot respect the verdict of the public, then why the elections?"

Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi slammed AAP over ruckus and said, "This is democratic process and everybody has right to vote. They are scared as they have an anarchist attitude. All the ruckus is started by AAP leaders. This is because they are unaware of the rules. When they are in majority, why are they afraid? AAP MPs do the same in Rajya Sabha as well. They should allow voting".

BJP's Kapil Mishra has lashed out the Delhi government. He said, "AAP has the majority then why they are scared? Why are they disrupting the proceedings? The national capital has been shamed today. This  has happened on the directions of CM Arvind Kejriwal and DyCM Manish Sisodia as today they have converted the Municipal corporation in a pile of garbage".

"BJP doing hooliganism. Swearing-in of the nominated councillors was being held first. A ruckus broke out when we objected to it & asked that the swearing-in of elected councillors should be held first. They (BJP) threw a momento", said AAP councillor Praveen Kumar

Republic's ground report as BJP and AAP workers continues ruckus out side Civic Centre over Mayor oath taking. BJP has claimed that AAP is deliberately delaying the proceedings where as AAP stated that the saffron party can not respect people's verdict

Why the AAP is scared...AAP has been defeated morally...does it think that its councillors won't be supporting their party?: BJP MP Manoj Tiwari respond on the ruckus between BJP & AAP councillors

The national capital witnessed a high-octane Delhi MCD mayoral election today as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party locked horns to elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the civic body. Notably, the newly-elected Municipal Corporation will meet for the first time on Friday after Arvind Kejriwal's party bagged 134 seats in the 250-member corporation, ending the BJP's 15-year-long regime.

AAP who emerged victorious in the MCD poll that took place last year has fielded Shelly Oberoi and Ashu Thakur as the party's candidates for the mayor post.  BJP's Shalimar Bagh councillor Rekha Gupta will contest for the top post. For the Deputy Mayor post, AAP has nominated Aaley Mohammad Iqbal and Jalaj Kumar, while the BJP has nominated Kamal Bagri for the post concerned.

Ahead of the oath-taking ceremony at the MCD civic centre, AAP and BJP councillors clashed with each other inside the civic centre and raised slogans protesting against each other.