New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought responses from the office of Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, pro tem presiding officer Satya Sharma of MCD and others on a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi seeking early holding of mayoral election for the civic body. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said it is issuing notice on the plea and seeking the replies from them by next Monday. Senior advocate AM Singhvi pointed that the session of the House was called three times but no election for the Mayor was held.
“We have several objections including that the pro tem presiding officer of the MCD is insisting on holding elections for Mayor, Deputy Mayor and members of standing committee all at once. This is contrary to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act”, he said. The bench, which noted the submissions of Singhvi, said it will hear the matter on Monday.
Both the BJP and AAP have accused each other of preventing the mayoral polls, with the bone of contention being the appointment of aldermen and their voting right in the House. The AAP, which has a majority with 134 out of 250 elected members, has alleged that the BJP was trying to steal its mandate by giving voting rights to the nominated members.
Oberoi had moved the top court earlier as well seeking directions to ensure mayoral election in Delhi in a time-bound manner, but the plea was withdrawn in view of the election being scheduled for February 6.
The top court had on February 3 observed that the major grievance of the petitioner was that mayoral election was not held but now the election had been notified and granted her liberty to come back in case of any grievances.
The mayoral election in the national capital was stalled last month for the second time as the MCD House was adjourned indefinitely by the lieutenant governor-appointed presiding officer, following a ruckus created by some councillors.
The first meeting of the newly-elected MCD House was also adjourned on January 6 amid clashes between AAP and BJP members.