‘Inteha ho gayi intezaar ki’: A night of chaos inside Delhi MCD House

Things got so intense that at one point, the newly elected mayor, AAP’s Shelly Oberoi, alleged that attempts to attack her were made. “BJP Councillors just tried to attack me while I was conducting the Standing Committee elections, as per Supreme Court orders! This is the extent of BJP’s gundagardi that they are trying to attack a woman Mayor,” she tweeted.

BJP members also alleged that their councillors had suffered injuries. “Many of our leaders have suffered minor injuries. They hit our leaders with bottles, apples and shoes. Pramod Gupta was slapped.” BJP councillor Satya Sharma, who was the Presiding Officer till the mayor was elected, alleged.

AAP and BJP councillors went at each other, throwing water bottles and fruits, with some also seen pushing and shoving others.

AAP MLA Atishi and a few other party MLAs, who were present in the House as they were members of the Electoral College for mayoral polls, tried to pacify the party’s councillors, at one point shouting at them: “Vo karenge toh tum bhi karoge? (If they do it, will you do it as well?).”

Till midnight, proceedings were adjourned nine times.

Wednesday’s polls were held after the Supreme Court ruled that nominated members — aldermen — were not allowed to vote in the House. It also said that all three elections — to the post of mayor, deputy mayor and six Standing Committee members — should take place on Wednesday.

AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj alleged that BJP councillors were trying hard to disrupt the last poll. “The Supreme court ordered that mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee elections will be held on Wednesday. But BJP leaders are continuously trying to disrupt the elections. We will follow the order of the apex court and conduct polls at any cost, even if it takes the entire night,” he said.

Chaos first erupted in the House after 6.30 pm, minutes after distribution of ballots for the election began. BJP leaders demanded that the use of mobile phones inside the house be restricted. Oberoi, however, refused and said that they were all “respected councillors and can keep their mobile phones with them.”

As protests intensified, Oberoi accepted their request and asked them to sit. The protests, however, continued well into the night, with BJP councillors singing the devotional song ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’. After the house was reconvened at around 9.30 pm, BJP councillors shouted, “Cheater, cheater, Shelly Oberoi cheater” after which the house was adjourned again.

At around 11.30 pm, some women councillors started to leave the House, fearing violence.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor alleged that AAP did not want the Standing Committee polls to be held since it would lose. “With the way AAP first obstructed the Standing Committee election by allowing use of phones and later by throwing bottles in the House from the visitors’ gallery, it is clear that they won’t allow the election to take place as they are losing,” he said.

While the mayor is the nominal head of the civic body, it is the Standing Committee which has executive powers.

Powers to grant financial approval to projects, discussions related to and the finalisation of policies to be implemented, appoint sub-committees (on issues such as education, environment, parking etc) and form regulations are under the ambit of the Standing Committee, which has 18 members.

While six members of this committee are to be elected in the House, the remaining 12 will be elected by Ward Committees later.

At 11.42, the house was adjourned for the ninth time in an hour.

Past midnight, BJP MLA Vijender Gupta said they will raise with the L-G the matter of their party members being attacked. “This is hooliganism. Within hours of becoming Mayor, Oberoi is showing her try colours. There are senior members and women. We have no clue when the house will resume and for how long this will go on. Our only request is fresh voting for the standing committee,” he said.

A little past 1 am, some BJP members were seen reciting bhajans inside the House. Meanwhile, Atishi, Oberoi and other AAP leaders held a late-night press conference, blaming BJP for the fiasco. AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said: “We all just had dinner and breakfast orders have already been given. The standing committee elections will happen in this sitting only – at any cost. BJP’s tactics will not run this time.”

Around 2 am, the House was again adjourned for an hour. Around 3 am, BJP members could be heard singing – ‘Inteha ho gayi intezaar ki, aayi na kuch khabar mayor sahab ki’ – urging Oberoi to resume the session.

The House did gather again – but things fell apart soon after. By 4 am, there was another adjournment.