AAP vs BJP As Court Observes Nominated Members Can't Vote For Mayor Polls

Hours after the Supreme Court observed that nominated members (aldermen) cannot vote in the MCD House polls for mayor, the ruling AAP in Delhi and the BJP traded charges. While AAP alleged that the BJP was resorting to "dishonest tactics", the opposition party hit back, saying it always suspected that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party was delaying voting in the MCD House.

Hearing a plea filed by the AAP's mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi, the Supreme Court on Monday observed that nominated members of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) cannot vote in the mayoral election and the constitutional provision is "very clear" on that.

The electoral college for the election of the MCD mayor comprises 250 elected councillors, seven Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha MPs from Delhi and 14 MLAs. The Delhi Assembly Speaker has nominated 13 AAP MLAs and a BJP member to the civic body.

AAP won 134 wards and the BJP 104 in the civic body polls held in December last year. A BJP rebel, who had contested as an independent, rejoined the party after winning from the Mundka ward. The total votes in the mayoral polls are 274. The numbers game favours AAP, which has 150 votes against the BJP's 113.

The Congress had earlier declared it will not participate in the mayoral poll.

However, in the MCD House meeting on February 6, presiding officer and BJP councilor Satya Sharma had decided that the 10 Lt Governor-appointed aldermen will vote in the election of mayor.

If the alderman are allowed to vote in the mayoral poll, the voting strength of the BJP will go up to 123 from 113.

Referring to the plea being heard by the top court, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said the date for the mayoral election on February 16 has been postponed. He alleged that the BJP's "suspicion" that AAP does not want voting in the MCD House for mayor has been proved to be correct.

"They had gone to the court for a stay (on voting) in which they have succeeded. Our endeavour has always been that Delhi gets its mayor at the earliest," Mr Sachdeva said.

The BJP leader said he hoped that the Supreme Court would decide the matter at the earliest, and added that his party would accept the court's judgement.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud posted the matter on Friday for further hearing.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, appearing for the office of the Delhi lieutenant governor, said the February 16 poll would be postponed to a date after February 17.

The AAP alleged that giving voting rights to the nominated members was a "shameful act" by the BJP-led central government.

"It was shameful act by the Centre that despite there being a well-settled law that nominated members cannot vote, they were indulging in dishonest tactics. Because of this, they ensured that the MCD House proceedings were disrupted thrice," alleged AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj.

The AAP thanks the Supreme Court, he said, adding, "There is an institution in this country that is still governed by law and is not under pressure from Centre or any other institution."

Meanwhile, the Delhi Congress, which has nine councilors in the MCD House, said the people of Delhi were "fed up" with the "blame game" between AAP and the BJP. "Delhiites are suffering due to their politics. Despite two months after MCD elections, the city is yet to have a mayor," said Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar.

If the Supreme Court has observed that nominated members of MCD cannot vote in mayoral election, then there should not be any problem in holding the next session of the House, he said.

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