A year after, Delhi to go for polls again

The dates for the elections could even be clubbed with the 5-phase elections in J&K and Jharkhand

Almost a year after elections were held to the Delhi Assembly on December 4, 2013, yielding a hung Assembly in which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed a minority government but resigned after 49 days, the Union Cabinet accepted Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung’s recommendation to hold fresh elections, as no government was possible out of the current Assembly. The Centre on Tuesday recommended the dissolution of the Delhi Assembly with immediate effect.

Jung held consultations with political parties on Monday and it was clear none was ready to form a government, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was five seats short of a majority. However, after internal deliberations, the party decided not to form a government through horse-trading or engineering defections.

Jung and the Union Cabinet acted after the Supreme Court said last week: “In a democracy, President’s rule cannot go on forever. The lieutenant governor should have taken a decision on government formation at the earliest instead of waiting for months.” It ordered the L-G to decide by November 11. Now that the Cabinet, in an emergency meeting on Tuesday  (cabinet meetings are usually held on Wednesdays) has cleared the way for an election, the three by-elections, announced by the election commission (EC) to vacancies created by those MLAs who resigned on contesting and winning the Lok Sabha elections, will be scrapped. The last day for filing nominations to the by-elections is Wednesday.

The dates for the elections will be announced by EC and they could even be clubbed with the five-phase elections in Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand for which counting is due on December 23. It is also possible the EC might opt to update electoral rolls and decide on a February election just before the school final examinations.

Almost immediately after the Cabinet decision, all political parties went into election mode. “We have proved AAP does what it claims, as we had delivered in 49 days. If there is any party which can make Delhi corruption-free and a world-class state, it’s the AAP,” party leader Ashutosh said.

BJP leader Satish Upadhyaya said the election would be fought with collective leadership and a chief ministerial candidate would be named after the elections.

The Congress took a dig at the man, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had appointed L-G, by saying Jung’s recommendation to the President for dissolution of the Delhi Assembly was “better late than never”. “Wisdom descended upon the L-G only after the intervention of the Supreme Court,” party general secretary Shakeel Ahmed, who is in charge of party affairs in Delhi, said.

The EC is likely to meet top bureaucrats, including the home secretary, before finalising the date for the polls.