The polls are like any other polls which take place in the country but the BJP’s unconstitutional move has made it necessary for attention to be paid to this election.
Inorder to come to power, the saffron party has tried and succeeded in getting MLAs from other parties to defect in various State assemblies, and the party is implementing the same formula in municipal corporations.
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Ofcourse, they have done the same in Goan municipalities too and, in fact, amended the law by issuing an ordinance to keep the Margao civic body under its control. However, Delhi’s situation is quite different and also an objectionable one. Despite the passing of two months since the MCD polls, the civic body is yet to elect the mayor. The polls to elect the mayor were delayed for the third time on Monday due to the ruckus in the House. The elections for MCD were held last year on December 4, for 250 seats, with AAP emerging as the single largest party. The Kejriwal-led party secured 136 seats while the BJP managed to win 104. The requirement to secure a majority is 126 seats and AAP in fact won 10 more.
The BJP needs to understand that AAP is a clear winner in the Capital but they are looking to deploy the policy which they have in the Assemblies of some of the States. Since AAP has already won the elections they should be rightfully allowed to claim the position which is rightfully theirs. However, it looks like BJP has not accepted its defeat. BJP is falling short of 22 councillors needed to achieve a majority, but they are trying to gain that number by hook or by crook, even as their attempts have been proven to be futile so far. They are hopeful that some AAP councillors might lean towards them during the mayoral polls.
Ofcourse, they are trying their ways secretly but have hinted at some things publicly. In Delhi, the Lt Governor has the right to nominate 10 members, and he has appointed 10 members who are from BJP. Which means the BJP’s strength has now risen by 10 in the House. Notably, the nominated members do not have the right to vote. The bias in handling the operations obvious, as the Lt Governor has even appointed BJP’s own councillor Satya Sharma as the presiding officer. Needless to mention that these decisions were to favour the saffron party. The biggest and most controversial decision was to grant the nominated members the right to vote during the polls to elect the mayor. The decision was expectedly met with stern opposition since as per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, the nominated members of the House do not hold the right to vote. Let alone the MCD, such rights do not exist in any of the country’s municipalities, municipal corporations and gram panchayat bodies.
So, the obvious question here is under which section of the law did the presiding officer grant the nominated members the right to vote? This is a direct violation of the law just for the BJP to secure the majority.
Another objectionable decision which was taken by the presiding officer was to simultaneously hold the polls to elect the mayor, deputy mayor and Standing Committee. The presiding officer has only two duties: a) to administer an oath to the newly elected members, and b) to conduct mayoral polls. Once the mayoral poll is conducted, the presiding officer has to chair the meeting and conduct the election of the deputy mayor as well as other committees. But, the BJP is resorting to all means, no matter how unconstitutional they are, to bring about their dominance over the Standing Committee as well as the posts of mayor and deputy mayor.
The BJP’s stance is anti-democratic to the extent that they do not seem bothered even if one petitions the court to challenge their decisions. Their antics buy them more time which, as per their pattern in the past, is used to get members belonging to other parties to defect. Their more recent example of such a tactic was seen in Maharashtra, which has been challenged in the court.
The BJP has always been criticising others with reference to philosophy, Constitution and laws. However, the self-titled ‘party with a difference’ has been cut a sorry figure in Delhi.
