HIGHLIGHTS
In a major setback, the Delhi High Court on Saturday put on hold the notice of the re-election of the six members of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) by Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi.
While issuing a stay on the re-election, the bench of Justice Gaurang Kanth said, “This court prima facie finds that an election has been conducted though the result has not been declared yet. No purpose will be served by conducting a fresh election.”
On a petition filed by two BJP councillors, Shikha Roy and Kanwaljeet Sehrawat, against the notice to hold the re-election on February 27, Justice Gaurang Kanth noted that the notice was issued without the results of the previous polls, which were held on February 24.
"From perusal of regulation 51, it is nowhere reflected that Respondent no 4 (Mayor/Returning officer) has authority to declare an election of the standing committee as null and void," noted the judge, adding that it was "prima facie clear " that the election has been conducted and counting of votes has been done, even though the result has not been declared so far.
The high court has summoned Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and Mayor Shelly Oberoi to respond to the petitions. The hearing has been rescheduled for March 27.
The court has additionally ordered that all ballots, CCTV footage from the election and House sessions, and "any other connected material" be retained by the Municipal Secretary and the Mayor for a period of three months in case the court has to review the evidence.
Senior attorneys Dayan Krishnan and Rahul Mehra stated that the violence in the house and the behaviour of the BJP Councilors were the grounds for calling a re-election in their case on behalf of Mayor Shalley Oberoi.
BJP, meanwhile, asserted on Saturday that three candidates from the saffron party and three from the AAP will be "elected" as members of the MCD's standing committee based on calculations made by technical experts the day before and that the mayor should accept and declare this outcome.
During a news conference, Virendra Sachdeva, the Delhi BJP's working president, charged that the re-election ordered by Mayor Shelly Oberoi to elect six members of the standing committee was "undemocratic" and "unconstitutional".
Reacting to the Delhi HC’s order, Mayor Oberoi said, “One vote was invalid in the February 24 election but the BJP kept on saying that the vote is valid. Because of this, the counting procedure was not completed.
“Declaration of result by the expert was also invalid because they were supposed to assist me and not declare the result. As per the Act, only the presiding officer can declare the result after form 4 is filled. I did not fill out any forms, so nobody else was supposed to announce the result. I went to the police and have registered 3 FIRs,” Shelly Oberoi added.
The Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi said earlier on Friday that the elections for the same will be held on February 22 and added that the house will stay adjourned until then. This came hours after the municipal House was rocked by new altercations between the councillors of the BJP and the AAP.
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