Unconstitutional: Kejri slams BJP over ruckus during Mayoral polls

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday termed the move to invite the nominated councillors for taking oath ahead of the elected ones in the Mayoral polls "unconstitutional" while citing the Constitution.

"Article 243R of the Constitution clearly debars nominated members from voting in the House. Attempt to get them to vote in the House is unconstitutional," Kejriwal tweeted sharing the snippet of the Article.

This comes after a high-political drama broke out over the swearing-in of nominated councillors in the Civic Centre in which the aldermen (those who traditionally cannot vote) to the civic body were invited to take oath. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also hit out at the BJP and accused the party of "stooping low" to "hide the misdeeds" in the MCD.

"BJP people will stoop so low to hide their misdeeds in MCD! Elections were postponed, illegal appointment of the presiding officer, illegal appointment of nominated councillors, and now the public's elected councillors are not being administered oath.... If you cannot respect the verdict of the public, then why the elections?" Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.

Amid chaos and clash between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party councillors at the Civic Center on Friday, the MCD House was adjourned even before the commencement of voting for mayoral polls.

Councillors from both parties clashed and then took to protests with sloganeering against each other ahead of the Delhi Mayor polls. Marshals had to make their presence felt as several councillors were injured in the process.

BJP has claimed that its councillors Inder Kaur, Anita Deoli and Kamaljeet Sherawat sustained injuries during the protest while AAP took to social media to list its injured.

"There was a fatal attack on our councillor in the MCD House. BJP councillors are involved in the attack," AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said. A huge ruckus was witnessed at the Civic Centre, before the commencement of voting for the Delhi mayor elections, over the swearing-in of nominated councillors.

High drama ensued in the House for over an hour as Delhi was all set to elect its first single mayor in 10 years after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was unified last year.

The high-pitched drama was witnessed in the MCD House as the presiding officer invited aldermen Manoj Kumar to take oath first. The presiding officer, MCD commissioner and other officials left the House after the ruckus.

Aam Aadmi Party, which won the MCD polls, with 134 seats has fielded Shelly Oberoi. While Rekha Gupta, a three-term councillor from Shalimar Bagh, is the BJP's nominee for the mayor poll.

The AAP, which ended the 15-year-long reign of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the MCD polls held on December 4, has cried foul play over Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena's decision to appoint BJP councillor Satya Sharma as the presiding officer of MCD and 10 aldermen to the civic body.

Along with the post of mayor and deputy mayor, the standing committee members will also be elected. Seven candidates are in the fray for 6 posts on the Standing Committee.

Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Amil Malik, Raminder Kaur, Mohini Jeenwal and Sarika Chowdhary while BJP has Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Gajendra Daral and Pankaj Luthra as its candidates for the Standing Committee.

Along with this, 7 Lok Sabha MPs of Delhi, 3 Rajya Sabha MPs and 14 MLAs among the nominated people, who have been made on the consent of the Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, will also take part in the voting.

The AAP has named Aaley Mohammad Iqbal and Jalaj Kumar as the contenders for the deputy mayor's post, who have been pitted against Ram Nagar councillor Kamal Bagri.