Municipal Commotion of Delhi resumes today

In a letter to the MCD Commissioner, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor demanded that the video recording of the house after 6 pm on Wednesday be ‘kept in safe custody’ so that appropriate action can be taken against AAP councillor Devendra Kumar. BJP has alleged that Kumar slapped BJP councillor Pramod Gupta during the ruckus in the House last evening. “On the one hand, saving the video recording is important to prove violence by AAP councillors while on the other hand, it will also prove how the new Mayor, Shelly Oberoi, repeatedly adjourned the House but did not abide by a time limit of the adjournment,” Kapoor said.

AAP, meanwhile, alleged that BJP councillor Rekha Gupta — who was also the party’s mayoral candidate — broke the podium, while another councillor Amit Nagpal threw the ballot box and tore the ballot paper booklet. The party also made allegations of assault by BJP leaders.

AAP leaders Thursday said that tempers were running high on both sides during Wednesday’s proceedings, and demands for an enquiry against BJP leaders will be made on Friday morning, even before the Standing Committee election is held. “Videos of BJP leaders vandalising the property of the House, the ballot box and the ballot book make it clear that they are the ones who did not want the election to take place. They raised irrelevant issues like the use of phones, even though there is no law prohibiting it. While we hope six members of the Committee will be elected on Friday, there is no telling what may happen,” said an AAP leader.

On the question of what outcome the party expects from the elections, if held, another senior party leader, who was present in the House on Wednesday, said, “Even if the Congress walks out, which is expected, we will ultimately have majority in the Standing Committee because we are sure of winning at least 10 seats out of 18. If Congress councillors do not vote on Friday, we will be getting three out of six seats. We will get the remaining seven seats from the 12 Ward Committees as we have a majority there, despite the nomination of 10 aldermen,” the leader said, adding that they were confident of a favourable outcome.

Asked if they had tried to convince Congress councillors to vote, the leader said, “The Congress has a history of not cooperating with any other party at crucial times like these. There are several examples of this in history. We are not expecting them to change their decision.”

Eight out of nine Congress councillors abstained from the mayoral polls on Wednesday, and one councillor voted for the BJP candidate.