Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has led the charge against BJP's alleged "illegal attempts".
The Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Delhi mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi on Thursday went to the Supreme Court to demand that elections to the civic body's top post be held "in a time-bound manner". A hearing is likely on Friday. The party has also argued that law be followed to not allow the 10 nominated councillors to vote.
The move comes two days after the mayoral election was stalled for the second time this month amid chaos at the sitting of the newly-elected Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The AAP, which won majority in the MCD polls last month, has alleged bias by the the stand-in presiding officer, a BJP councillor, and said the BJP wants to use "illegal means" in the mayoral elections. It sees "a deep conspiracy" by the BJP through the presiding officer appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, who is an appointee of the BJP's central government.
The BJP, unseated in the MCD after 15 years, claims the AAP is "scared" as its councillors may not vote for its candidate.
Shelly Oberoi is the AAP's mayoral candidate.
Following the adjournment on Tuesday — after BJP councillors held protests with placards accusing the AAP of "running away" from the mayoral elections — the AAP accused the BJP of engineering the chaos to actually prevent the election.
AAP members had remained seated even after the adjournment, and the party held a headcount to underline that it has the numbers.
Earlier, on January 6, the first meeting of the new House was also adjourned when both AAP and BJP members protested. At the nub of AAP's protest that day was nominated councillors ('Aldermen') being administered the membership oath before the elected members.
The AAP won 134 of the 250 wards in the MCD polls held in December, and the BJP got 104 seats.
In the petition to the Supreme Court, filed by AAP's mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi and party leader Mukesh Goyal, there are two main points — one, that the new setup be elected in a timely manner; two, that the Aldermen not be allowed to vote as "the law doesn't allow that".
"The people of Delhi gave majority to the AAP in the MCD elections but the BJP, with its dirty politics, is now allowing the administration to be out in place," said party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj.
In the multiple-tier governance setup of the national capital, the BJP-led central government exercises key powers through the Lt Governor; the AAP's state government has another set of powers, while civic issues are mostly under the civic body, which the AAP recently wrested from the BJP.
The post of mayor in sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women. This will be the first time in 10 years that the city will have one mayor, following the merger of three divisions of the municipal body last year.