New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the Article 243R of the Constitution debars nominated members from voting in the MCD House and attempting to get them to do so is unconstitutional.
His comment came a few hours after the MCD house was adjourned over administering of oath to the 10 aldermen nominated members a move that the Aam Aadmi Party has alleged was an underhanded ploy to get them to vote for the election of mayor and deputy mayor in the house.
Kejriwal also wrote a letter to the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V K Saxena mentioning several other incidents which according to him were attempts to bypass the MCD rules. The nomination of 10 aldermen to the MCD, dictating names of the Haj Committee by allegedly bypassing the Delhi government, and not nominating the senior-most person as the presiding officer, were some such instances he cited in the letter.
“Officers in the administration would have refused to follow bizarre directions by the L-G. They have been protesting privately and in a muted voice.
“They are scared of consequences if they do not follow the directions. Some also faced wrath in the past. Control over bureaucracy through ‘services’ is being misused,” he wrote.
Earlier in the day, the house was adjourned without electing Mayor and Deputy Mayor as the BJP and the AAP councillors got into a heated argument over administering of oath to the alderman first and not the elected representatives.
The AAP has alleged that the BJP made the alderman take oath first in order to get them voting rights for the election to Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Refuting the allegations, BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “Nobody was trying to make aldermen vote in the House but that doesn’t mean they can’t be sworn in. After all, the aldermen can vote in Zone Committees. Arvind Kejriwal instigated his councillors to create ruckus in the house.”
AAP National Spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj also said that their party will get an FIR registered for the alleged attacks on their councillors.
Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Friday announced the members of the Delhi Haj Committee that included a Congress councillor, evoking sharp reaction from AAP which alleged a nexus between BJP and Congress ahead of the mayoral election of the MCD.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the notification “illegal” and said neither government was consulted nor a proper process was followed.
The Haj Committee members include BJP MP Gautam Gambhir, two Aam Aadmi Party MLAs — Abdul Rehman and Haji Yunus, Congress councillor Naziya Danish, Muslim theology expert Mohammad Saad and Kausar Jahan as a member from Muslim voluntary organisations.
BJP said all required processes were followed by the L-G.
Sources at L-G office refuted the allegation, saying proper procedure was followed and Naziya Danish was not made chairman of the committee.
The Congress which has nine ward councillors opted out of the 250-member MCD mayoral poll. The party has said that it won’t be a part of the election and its councillors won’t be present in the house during voting.
AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj, earlier in the day said that Congress leader of the House in MCD Naziya Danish strikes a deal with BJP. “The deal of Congress and BJP has been exposed. The best case scenario for BJP was to make Congress walk out of the House. And Congress has agreed to that. In return, the BJP has made MCD Congress leader Ms Naziya Danish a member of Haj Committee,” tweeted Bhardwaj.