EC nod to Apr 26 MCD Mayoral polls

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday said it has no objection to the MCD Mayoral polls scheduled for April 26, even as the office of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena is yet to appoint a presiding officer for the election.

The proposal to appoint the presiding officer goes from the municipal secretary to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner and then onwards to the urban development secretary, the chief secretary, the urban development minister and the chief minister before it ends up with the L-G.

While Delhi Urban Development minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has said the file on the appointment of the presiding officer was sent to the L-G office bypassing him, official sources claimed that the L-G office was yet to receive it from the Chief Minister’s office. According to the civic body officials, the polls to elect the mayor and the deputy mayor could be postponed due to the prevailing uncertainty on the appointment of the presiding officer.

Last week, the municipal secretary sought the EC’s nod to conduct the mayoral and deputy mayoral polls as the Model Code of Conduct for the general elections is in place.

“...the Commission has no objection, from MCC angle, to the proposal made therein,” the EC said in its response to the communication by the municipal secretary.

A senior civic body official said, “So far, we have not got any information on whether our request to appoint a presiding officer has been accepted. We will only be able to decide the further course of action once we get some clarity.”

“This would be an unprecedented circumstance... The mayoral polls are supposed to be held in the first House meeting in April,” the official said.

“If the clearance does not come, there is a possibility of the elections being postponed,” a source in the MCD said.

Official sources earlier indicated that the presiding officer appointment process may be affected or delayed since

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is in prison.

On Tuesday, Bharadwaj wrote a letter to the L-G, alleging that the file related to the appointment of the presiding officer for the mayoral polls was sent to the L-G’s office directly by the chief secretary, bypassing him.

Bharadwaj requested the L-G to return the file to the chief secretary with an instruction that it should be sent to the L-G office through the urban development minister.

The mayoral polls are slated to be conducted in the first House meeting of the corporation on April 26 and are mentioned in the civic body’s agenda for the House.