MCD ward committees: L-G orders holding of polls after Mayor declines

Soon after, Commissioner Kumar issued an official order stating that the “Hon’ble Lt Governor has directed that the aforesaid elections be conducted as per the schedule”.

“Deputy Commissioners of the zones concerned shall perform the functions and duties of the presiding officer in the interest of free and fair elections. The entire process of elections should be recorded to ensure smooth, fair and transparent process. The Hon’ble Lt-Governor has further directed that the aforesaid order shall be enforced with immediate effect being a matter of emergent nature and in larger public interest,” Kumar wrote.

The Supreme Court’s August 5 verdict, which held that the Centre-appointed Lieutenant Governor could solely nominate the 10 aldermen without consulting the Delhi government, had initially cleared the path for the elections. The election announcement was made on August 28. Nominations were to be filed by August 30.

In her letter to Kumar, Oberoi had argued that the election schedule was designed in a way that deprived many eligible councillors of their legal right to file nominations, while others were entirely excluded from participating in the process. “Given that the nomination period began on a Friday, just one clear day after the election announcement, and was set to close that evening, their request was not at all unreasonable,” she wrote.

Following the election announcement, two AAP councillors, Tilotma Chaudhary and Prem Chauhan, had moved the Delhi High Court seeking an extension of the deadline to file nominations, citing their absence from town. The HC had remarked that the councillors could have filed their nominations instead of petitioning the court, after which they withdrew their pleas; they submitted their nominations later that day.

Oberoi stated that she had formally requested the Commi-ssioner to extend the nomination deadline, but no action was taken. “The Commissioner chose to proceed in a manner that clearly undermines the integrity of the democratic process. This situation also raises serious questions about whether there is an underlying agenda behind these actions,” she wrote.

“If the election schedule had been communicated in advance, eligible individuals could have planned their commitments accordingly. However, elections to the ward committees were neither scheduled in advance nor accompanied by an election calendar, which would have allowed councillors to plan their activities well ahead of time,” Oberoi said in her letter.

Oberoi also highlighted details of past election schedules — in 2017, elections were held 12 days after the election notice was issued; after 17 days in 2018; 11 days in 2019; 14 days in 2020; and 12 days during the last ward committee elections that were held in 2021. This year, however, only 7 days were provided between the notice and the scheduled election date.

Both the BJP and the Congress hit out at the Mayor.

BJP’s Leader of Opposition in the MCD, Raja Iqbal Singh, said, “Two years of the municipal corporation have been wasted by the Aam Aadmi Party; development work in wards has come

to a standstill. There is a situation where the Municipal Commissioner has to ensure compliance with constitutional provisions.”

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “Shelly Oberoi needs to be dismissed as she has lost all constitutional and ethical right to stay as Mayor and she has pushed the MCD towards the brink of possible dissolution.”

Leader of Congress in the MCD and former mayor, Farhad Suri, said, “The mayor is saying that she is postponing elections because democratic processes are not being followed, but the court has already given its opinion on the matter so her direction for postponement is a violation of democracy in itself.”

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