New Delhi: The AAP and the BJP on Saturday claimed victory after the Delhi High Court stayed the re-election of six members of the Standing Committee of MCD and accused each other of adopting ‘unconstitutional’ means to win the poll.
The Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the ruling, saying this was a “step towards justice”, while the Aam Aadmi Party called it a victory of the party and a vindication of its stand.
Addressing a press conference here, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva accused Mayor Shelly
Oberoi of making a “wrong, immoral and unconstitutional announcement” on Friday to hold the election afresh.
“Now, even the high court has put a stay on this unconstitutional move. And, this is a good decision, a decision that will sustain democracy. We welcome this stay. Truth will triumph and whatever result will eventually come out of it... we feel that the results of technical experts in the election for members of the Standing Committee will hold good,” he said.
AAP senior leader and MLA Atishi, however, said the court order was a victory for the party as the saffron party was hoping that the HC would endorse an illegal demand of the party regarding counting of votes, but the court refused to accept their unconstitutional and illegal demand.
She alleged that the BJP had approached the High Court with the desire that the court accept their demand, but this did not happen. The court eventually said that it would examine the matter and see what powers the Constitution of India gives to the mayor and the municipal secretary, she said. The MCD House witnessed high-decibel protests by BJP councillors after Oberoi declared that a vote cast during the standing committee election was “invalid”. The bedlam turned into pandemonium as violent clashes broke out between councillors from both the parties. Oberoi had barely started to announce the results when the ruckus began.
Following the ruckus, councillors from the both the parties filed complaints, with police initiating legal action in the matter.
The war of words between the two parties continued on social media in the form of a poster war between them.
The BJP took a dig at AAP MLA Atishi on Saturday, calling her a “villain” and accusing her of orchestrating the ruckus during elections for the six-member standing committee in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi House. Sharing a mock-up film poster with morphed pictures of AAP MLAs Atishi and Durgesh Pathak alongside Mayor Shelly Oberoi, the Delhi BJP tweeted in Hindi, “AAP’s ‘khalnayika’ who orchestrated violence and dictatorship in the House.”
The AAP also shared a poster featuring BJP MPs Manoj Tiwari, Gautam Gambhir, councillor Rekha Gupta along with other leaders with the title “Ballot Chor Machaye Shor”. The AAP said in a tweet in Hindi, “The BJP people who are making so much noise. These are the ones who stole ballot papers and are killers of democracy.”