Days after Delhi HC order, results of MCD’s standing committee poll announced

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s standing committee will have three members each from the AAP and the BJP as the results of the poll held on February 24 to elect members of the key panel were declared on Thursday. The results were declared days after the Delhi High Court set aside the decision of Mayor Shelly Oberoi to call for a repoll and directed her to declare forthwith the results of the poll.

The names of the elected councillors were announced during a meeting of the civic body’s House, according to an MCD notification.

Mohd. Aamil Malik, Mohini and Raminder Kaur from the AAP and Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Gajender Singh Daral and Pankaj Luthra from the BJP are the six councillors who have been elected to the standing committee of the MCD. Although the Aam Aadmi Party is the ruling party in the MCD, the results of the standing committee election could affect the working of the civic body since all the executive decisions are taken by the committee which now has equal members from both the parties. The high court’s May 23 order came on petitions by BJP councillors Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Shikha Roy against the mayor’s decision to order repoll to elect the members of the panel, amid the running feud between the saffron party and the AAP.

The petitioners had alleged that the mayor, who belongs to AAP and was the returning officer, wrongly invalidated one of the votes and interdicted the election process upon finding the results “politically unpalatable”.

On February 24, a fight broke out in the MCD House, as BJP and AAP members kicked, punched and pushed each other amid shouting after Oberoi had declared one vote invalid in the election to the key municipal committee.

In its order, the high court also directed treating the “disputed vote” to be in favour of BJP councillor Pankaj Luthra.

It noted that of the six elected candidates, there were three members each from BJP and AAP with no invalid ballot being found after scrutiny, but, subsequently, the mayor declared one vote as invalid and did not declare the results but announced repoll.