No law on loyalty in MCD, BJP may court AAP councillors to vote for mayor post

NEW DELHI: Civic bodies are generally taken as apolitical, though councillors owe their allegiance to political parties. This apparent contradiction is reflected in the rules governing the functioning of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi whose mayoral post is up for grabs a day after poll results in which AAP won 134 wards in the 250-member House unseated BJP after 15 years.

The BJP’s assertion of having its own mayor isn’t just party bravado. Another factor that BJP leaders cite is there is no provision of an anti-defection law in the civic body setup.

“Obviously we will announce our mayor candidate and try to get support from other councilors. Anti-defection law is not applicable for the local body, so we will not hesitate to get support of AAP councilors. We will welcome everyone in the party so we can ensure the victory of our candidate,” said a senior BJP leader.

Since the election of mayor should be done without any delay, AAP will have to pick a candidate from its group of councillors. The municipal body is all set to seek a date from the Lieutenant Governor who is the constitutional head of the National Capital Territory (NCT) to convene a ‘House Meeting’ so the newly elected councilors could take oath, and Mayor and Deputy Mayor could be elected. 

The MCD will have to then nominate members for its Standing Committee who will choose the chairman and deputy chairman. “It is all a numbers game and if we manage support we may get the top post. It is clear that people have not voted against BJP,” said former mayor of South MCD and BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat. “We will have a majority in the Standing Committee as members nominated by the LG will vote for our candidate,” said Jai Prakash, former Mayor of North DMC.