Shelly Oberoi, a first-time councillor from Delhi’s East Patel Nagar ward, is the new mayor of Delhi after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the mayoral election held by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The members of Parliament voted first. Officials said that mobile phones were banned inside polling booths and a time frame of 90 minutes was allotted for the members to vote.
Before the Delhi mayor election, another major showdown between AAP and BJP took place after sources in the Lieutenant Governor’s office said that the ministry of home affairs has given sanctions to prosecute Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the Feedback Unit snooping case.
“VK Saxena had approved the CBI’s request for prosecution sanction and forwarded the same to the MHA,” the sources said. The CBI had sought sanction to register FIR against Sisodia, who heads the Vigilance department of Delhi government, under which the AAP government had “in 2015 surreptitiously created the FBU — an Extra Constitutional-Extra Judicial Intelligence Agency to spy over different ministries, opposition political parties, entities and individuals.”
“This snooping unit, with no legislative or judicial oversight, was being run and managed by the close aides and advisors of CM Arvind Kejriwal, who reported directly to him. The case also pertains to illegal/unaccounted expenditure in the name of Secret Service Fund allocated to the FBU,” the sources added.
The national capital may get a new mayor today, after two months of political tussle and three failed attempts by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to hold the mayoral polls.
The elections for mayor, deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee comes after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena gave his nod to convene the municipal House last week. The Supreme Court, where the AAP vs BJP tussle was underway over polls, too had ordered to convene the house and fix a date for elections.
In a boost to AAP, the apex court had ordered that the MCD members nominated by the L-G cannot vote to elect the mayor. “Nominated members cannot go for election. The constitutional provision is very clear,” a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed.
AAP candidate Shelly Oberoi had approached the top court, questioning the BJP’s contention that the aldermen — 10 members nominated by the Lieutenant Governor — are allowed to vote in the election.
According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor elections should be held in the very first session of the House after the civic polls.
The election, however, was delayed due to repeated adjournments of the House following acrimonious exchanges between members of the BJP and the AAP. The MCD elections results were declared on December 8 last year.
A month after the high-stakes municipal polls, the House was convened on January 6, January 24 and February 6, but it failed to carry out the exercise on three occasions, and was adjourned without electing a mayor, triggering much political bickering between AAP and BJP.
The crisis also impacted the annual budget proceedings and the schedule of taxes for year 2023-24 was passed by the Special Officer of the MCD on February 15, since the deliberative wing had not come into place.
In the election for the Standing Committee, AAP is likely to win three seats and the BJP two. The fight is over the sixth seat. If the alderman were allowed to vote, the strength of the BJP would have gone up to 123 from 113. AAP has 150 votes in the 274-member house, where the majority mark stands at 138.
While it would not have affected the outcome of Mayor election, the BJP could have bagged a critical chunk of the Standing Committee, understood to be the most powerful body in civic body. The Congress has said it would abstain, sparking allegations of “deal-making with the BJP” from AAP councillors.
Meanwhile, in Delhi’s latest sensational murder cases, Sahil Gehlot’s cousin and constable, Naveen Kumar, is in more trouble over a five-year-old case. Kumar is not only accused of helping Gehlot in killing of his partner Nikki Yadav, but was also named in the 2018 charge sheet of attempt to rape and criminal intimidation case.
The Delhi Police on Tuesday initiated a departmental enquiry against the constable. A report in Hindustan Times quoted a senior officer of Delhi Police as saying that Kumar, who was posted to DCP Dwarka’s office before being arrested in connection with Yadav’s murder on Saturday, had been charge-sheeted in 2018 in Rohini.
“He was charge-sheeted by the investigating officer in a case (FIR no 62/2018) under sections 323 (causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 427 (mischief), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Kanjhawala police station on August 20, 2018. As soon as the matter was brought to our notice, a departmental enquiry was initiated against him, today (Tuesday) in that case,” he said, asking not to be named.
(With inputs from agencies)