Mayor election delay: AAP, BJP hold protest against each other

New Delhi: As AAP and BJP continue bickering over the Mayoral elections, Delhi’s distress grows. On Tuesday, both parties staged protests on the opposite ends of the same road — BJP in front of AAP headquarters and AAP in front the BJP headquarters on the Deen Dyal Upadhyay Marg road.

Accusing the MCD Presiding Officer for Contempt of Court, AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the officer “wilfully lied” in the House by claiming to have a High Court order regarding voting in the elections.

“Manish Sisodia tweeted yesterday morning that the BJP would not let the mayor’s election be held again, and the same happened. Everything was predetermined because

despite there being a fight for every vote, BJP MPs were not present in the House,” Bharadwaj alleged.

He further alleged that the Central government “illegally occupied” the MCD for the last one year and that the

BJP has been trying to run the civic body forcibly.

“The Supreme Court will be our final resort in this case, they are now our only hope. First the Central government illegally occupied the civic body for one year and now the BJP has been trying to run the MCD forcibly,” he alleged.

Senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak alleged that the BJP has been trying to avoid the mayoral election as the AAP has higher voting strength in the House.

“We have a higher vote count than BJP, which is why they are trying to avoid the election. The MCD budget is Rs 16,000 crore per year,

multiply that by 15 years to determine the extent of BJP’s corruption,” he said.

Pathak said the AAP is ready to face “lathicharges and water cannons” but their “fight” against the BJP will continue.

Delhi BJP leaders, including party councillors, MPs and MLAs, staged a protest near the AAP office here, accusing the party of disrupting the mayoral election in the MCD House meeting.

Leading the protest outside AAP headquarter on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party was delaying the mayoral election because of an internal rift.

“The AAP councilors and leaders resorted to hooliganism and subverted constitutional norms inside the house. They snatched presiding officer’s mike, created ruckus, climbed on the tables and hurt BJP female corporators and now they are saying that the

mayoral election are not being held,” Sachdeva said. The AAP need to give up “hooliganism” which is “ruining” Delhi,

he added.

West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma slammed the AAP for opposing voting rights to the aldermen, saying that it was not written anywhere that they can not vote in the mayoral election.

Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramveer Singh Bidhuri alleged that AAP councillors created “ruckus” in the MCD House at the behest of AAP convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri alleged that Kejriwal was “worried” about a “split” in his party over elections in the House meeting as the party had fielded two candidates each for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor. The protest was also attended by BJP’s mayoral candidate Rekha Gupta, deputy mayor candidate Kamal Bagdi and standing committee member candidates Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Gajendra Daral and Pankaj Luthra, and all newly elected councillors among others.