Power tie in key MCD House panel as AAP, BJP share 3 seats each

NEW DELHI:  A power tie between the ruling AAP and the BJP-led opposition is in the offing in the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. No party is in a position to claim a majority in the powerful panel, which takes all executive decisions of the civic corporation.

The results were declared on Thursday of polls held on February 24. Three members each from AAP and BJP were elected for the six-member panel. According to a notification from the civic body, Raminder Kaur, Mohini Jeenwal, and Mohd Aamil Malik were elected from the AAP, while Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Gajender Singh Daral and Pankaj Luthra would represent the BJP in the committee.

The results of the Standing Committee election may affect the working of the civic body since all the executive decisions are taken by the committee, which is stuck in a tie with equal members from both parties. The results were declared days after the Delhi High Court quashed the decision by Mayor Shelly Oberoi to call for a repoll as she held a vote cast in favor of one of the committee members, BJP councilor Pankaj Luthra, invalid in the elections held over three months ago.

The HC direction came on petitions by BJP councilors Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Shikha Roy against the mayor’s decision to order a repoll to elect the panel members after she declared a vote to Luthra as “disputed”. The BJP councilors had alleged in their plea that the mayor wrongly invalidated one of the votes. However, the HC directed the mayor to treat that one “disputed” vote in favor of Luthra. 

Ruckus in Feb 24 polls 

In the election of the Standing Committee held on February 24, a scuffle broke out in the House between AAP and BJP corporators as they kicked, punched, and pushed each other after Mayor Shelly Oberoi declared one vote invalid.

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