Manish Sisodia slams Smriti Irani over MCD election row; 'Stop crying like Congress'

Delhi Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia, came down heavily on the Bharatiya Janata Party for dilly-dallying over the announcement of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections. He was responding to Union Minister Smriti Irani's allegation against Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, of withholding Rs 13000 crores of funds to ensure the failure of MCD. Irani lashed out at Kejriwal after he accused the state Election Commission (EC) is been bribed to postpone the MCD elections.  

"Stop crying like Congress. If you have the courage then don't run away, fight (contest MCD elections) with us. It will be a big achievement for you if you will be able to get even 10 seats," said Sisodia in press conference as quoted by ANI. 

The Point of Contention: Announcement of MCD Election Dates

Kejriwal, on Friday, alleged the EC of either being 'bribed or threatened' to defer the MCD elections. He said such actions 'weakens the democratic system.' 

"Date for MCD polls was to be announced at 5 p.m. on March 9, but the same day an hour ago, Centre wrote to State EC to combine all 3 civic bodies into one, and to delay polls. EC agreed to do so. The State Election Commissioner must reveal if he was threatened (by Centre) with ED, I-T, CBI raids or has been given a post-retirement role after April," said Kejriwal.

The Union Minister Irani responded by saying, Kejriwal has deprived the people of Delhi of the 'strongest unit of Democracy', of its funds, adding, "They (AAP) are requested to allow development work to be done till the slums of the poor, let the reform work be done."

Why The Elections Have Been Deferred?

The State Election Commissioner said the MCD election dates are yet to be announced by the Centre as the commission is examining certain legal issues being raised by the central Government. The Centre is planning to reorganise the MCD by unifying the three Municipal corporations of Delhi.

S K Srivastava said, "We were about to announce the dates, but now it will take another 5-7 days to announce them. The government perhaps desires 'reorganisation of MCD'. Maybe they could re-unify the three corporations, so we have to think over it, and then announce MCD poll dates. We will examine their advice. If the three corporations are unified, then we will have to decide accordingly. We are taking a legal opinion on the issue."

It's important to note, the SEC has said the elections will be held before May 18, 2022.