Ready to hold civic by-polls in Delhi, needs Rs 21 crore: State EC to HC

It sought direction to the Centre, Lieutenant Governor and AAP government to provide the requisite funds and resources to conduct elections to vacant seats in 13 municipal wards, out of the total 272 wards in all three Municipal Corporations in Delhi.

The commission filed the application following the court’s notice to it on a plea to hold the by-elections in 13 wards and fill “casual vacancies” in the councillorship in all the three Municipal Corporations. Notice was also issued to the Centre and the LG.

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Taking note of the application that the Delhi government was also a necessary party, the court added it in the list of respondents.

It, however, fixed the application of the commission, filed through advocate Sumeet Pushkarna, for consideration on September 23.

The court was hearing a PIL by a 20-year-old law student Sanjana Gahlot, who had stated that after she saw the poor condition of her village in west Delhi, she got to know that there was no councillor to look after the civic issues.

Meanwhile, the commission in its application said it was keen to conduct the elections immediately but it depended on external sources for manpower, materials and funds.

“About 4,500 ground-level personnel would be required for two weeks, 50 Delhi government officers who would be appointed as returning officers, election observers, and expenditure observers for a period of two months,” the application said.

The commission said it would also need about Rs 21 crore for conducting the polls, which has to be provided on behalf of MCD by the Delhi government.

“In terms on quantum of funds, the commission needs about Rs 21 crores for conduct of these elections. These funds are provided on behalf of the municipal corporations, by the urban development department of the state government.

“It is then adjusted against the disbursals made by the state government to municipal corporations,” the poll panel stated.

The panel’s application came in response to the law student’s plea on the bad civic condition in her village, which said that drain water was overflowing on all streets and filth was spread everywhere with the entire village suffering from foul smell.

Observing that there was no councillor to resolve such civic problems, the student had said the state Election Commission was “duty-bound to fill these vacancies as soon as possible. … A councillor is the most important elected representative in a ward who addresses issues such as sanitation, cleanliness, development.”

The petitioner has also contended that as per an RTI reply she received from the department, the councillors of nine wards had resigned from their position in December 2013 after being elected as MLAs in the Delhi Assembly elections.

“Four more resigned after February 2015 Assembly polls. No by-elections have been held to fill these vacancies,” she said, adding that the “democratic and constitutional rights of the public to elect and choose their representative has been snatched away by the state election commission, NCT of Delhi”.

Seven wards in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, four in North and two in the East are currently without councillors.