Delhi MCD Commissioner orders Standing Committee member election today

MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar on Thursday issued an order for conducting the Standing Committee member election on September 27 at 1 pm.

The order of the MCD said that the election for the lone vacancy in the Standing Committee by the Corporation was scheduled for September 26 at 2:00 pm; whereas, the said election was not conducted and the meeting was adjourned to October 5 by the Mayor Shelly Oberoi on the specious ground that the Councillors be allowed to carry mobile phones inside the voting hall/polling booth.

The order further said that whereas, a report regarding the proceeding with regard to the election was placed before the Lt Governor V K Saxena and he ordered that the arrangements for holding the election be made and sought a report about the conduct of the election by 10:00 pm on September 26.

"Whereas, the Lt Governor, while passing the directions for conducting the election, also directed that if Mayor is not available or refuses to preside over the meeting, the Dy Mayor may be requested to do the same and if both are unwilling or unavailable, the senior most member in order of seniority may be requested to discharge the function," the order further said.

The order further stated that the Mayor, Dy Mayor as well as senior most member (Mukesh Goel, Councillor) were accordingly requested to take action for holding the election, as per the directions of Lt Governor.

The order further reads, "Whereas, the Mayor replied that the election be held on October 5, only and any election held before that date would be illegal and unconstitutional, and the result would be ab initio null and void. The Dy Mayor and senior most members did not respond on the matter."

The MCD order said that the matter was again placed before the Lt Governor as directed by him, inter-alia, highlighting the fact that the Standing Committee is a key body for discharging municipal function and its non-constitution for the past about 21 months has impeded the decision-making in the critical matters relating to municipal affairs.

"Therefore, in larger public interest and to preserve the democratic spirit of the Municipal Body, the Lt Governor has directed that the aforesaid election be conducted on September 27 at 1:00 pm. Further, the Lt. Governor has also directed that Jitender Yadav, Addl Commissioner, shall preside over as Returning Officer for the purpose. The entire election process may be duly video-graphed. Mobile phones and electronic gadgets shall not be allowed inside the hall where voting will take place for the sake of secrecy of ballot," the order added.

Earlier, the election for the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was postponed on Thursday as the house meeting was adjourned, following protest by AAP councillors against the decision to ban mobile phones in the house.