Delhi Mayor Alleges Attack By BJP Councillors, Files Late-Night Complaint

Hours after the municipal House was rocked by fresh clashes between the councillors of the BJP and the AAP, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Friday alleged that a few members of the saffron party inflicted life-threatening attack on her.
At a press conference here, she alleged that her colleague Ashu Thakur was also attacked by another BJP councillor.

There was no immediate reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Shortly before the media interaction held at the Civic Centre, the mayor adjourned the House and announced that the election to six members of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be held afresh on February 27 at 11 am.

AAP MLA Atishi alleged Thakur was held by her scarf and dragged from the dais to one of the exit gates of the House.

"We will go to the Kamla Market Police Station and lodge a case of life-threatening attack on Mayor Shelly Oberoi and our other women councillors," Atishi said.

Scenes of uproar and high-decibel protests by BJP councillors were witnessed in the House after Oberoi declared that one vote cast during the election to the standing committee of MCD on Friday, was "invalid".

The bedlam in the House turned into a full-bown pandemonium and violent clashes broke out between many councillors of the AAP and the BJP.

Mayor Oberoi had barely started to announce the results when the ruckus began. One councillor even ripped off the mayor's mike on the dais.

"When I was announcing the standing committee election result, they (BJP councillors) pushed my chair and attacked me. BJP councillors Ravi Negi, Arjun Marwah, Chandan Choudhary and others inflicted life-threatening attack on me," she alleged.

She said ballot papers used on Friday have been "torn" and lost so as a moral responsibility, fresh election will be held for picking the six members of the MCD panel.

In a tweet late Friday night, the mayor said, "Requested an urgent appointment with the @DelhiPolice Commissioner tomorrow regarding the attack on me by BJP Councillors in the MCD House!" Responding to the request, a senior officer of the Delhi Police said they have received the mayor's complaint and that further action will be taken accordingly.

"When women are not safe inside the municipal House, how can they be safe in Delhi? I have filed a complaint against three BJP councillors and others, and sought police protection," Oberoi told reporters. Atishi alleged that what BJP members did on Friday was akin to "booth capturing".

"The BJP must accept its defeat in the MCD polls. They should not try to use violence to get back door entry into (MCD) governance," she said.

The mayor also alleged that the ruckus on Friday amounted to disrespect of the House and the chair of the mayor, and was "sheer hooliganism".

Ashu Thakur, later talking to reporters, said her scarf was wrapped around her neck. "I was dragged by the scarf from the dais to an exit door, and if the cloth had tightened longer, it could have suffocated me to death," she added.

Later, AAP supporters held a protest outside the Kamla Market Police Station.

AAP leader Durgesh Pathak denied any confrontation with the city police. He, however, accused Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena of being the "sutradar" (conspirator) of the ruckus in the municipal House.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)