Ruckus broke out during Standing Committee polls
The Municapl house still witnessed chaos, tension and ruckus between AAP and BJP. The chaotic scenes were seen during the election of the six members of the Standing Committee. This melodrama, which started on Wednesday evening, continued into the early hours of Thursday.
Screams, punches, thrown ballot boxes
Taking notes from the visuals, showed several councillors screaming, jostling and punching, as others doused them with bottled water.
Ballot boxes were also thrown into the Well as many of the members came to blows. Ahead of this ruckus, the proceedings were disrupted at least eight times due to the chaos.
Delhi mayor was attacked
The national capital’s new mayor, Shelly Oberoi has alleged that she was attacked by BJP councillors while conducting the election.
Despite the allegations, the BJP claimed that they were only trying to discuss the matter with the Mayor. Moreover, the visual also showed BJP councillors climbing the stage and surrounding the mayor amid the ruckus.
‘Attack on woman mayor’
Taking Twitter on Wednesday, new Delhi’s mayor, Oberoi wrote, “BJP Councillors just tried to attack me while I was conducting the Standing Committee elections, as per Supreme Court orders! This is the extent of BJP’s Gundagardi that they are trying to attack a woman Mayor.”
BJP Councillors just tried to attack me while I was conducting the Standing Committee elections, as per Supreme Court orders! This is the extent of BJP’s Gundagardi that they are trying to attack a woman Mayor.
— Dr. Shelly Oberoi (@OberoiShelly) February 22, 2023
While responding to the allegations, BJP’s Shikha Rai said, “We had gone to talk to the mayor that she should listen to us and discuss with us so that a solution can be found in this matter.”
“This is absolutely shocking and unacceptable!” tweeted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. AAP’s Atishi said they will complain to the police.
Stop the voting: BJP claims
According to the sources, the trouble started as an altercation between the AAP and the BJP over allegations that some members were carrying cell phones during the voting.
The BJP members claimed that the voting should be stopped and a fresh mandate taken. But with the lateness of the hour and the insistence of Ms Oberoi that the election for the Standing Committee has to be finished today, tempers flared.
During the election for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor, carrying pens and cell phones were not permitted. BJP alleged that it was allowed in the case of the Standing Committee poll to breach secrecy and stop AAP members from voting as they please.
Addressing a press conference, Delhi’s BJP spokesperson Harish Khanna said, “Which secret voting is conducted while carrying cellphones? You know you are going to lose and you are doing this to send photos of the voting to your high command. This is reducing democracy to a joke. We demand that you cancel the 50 votes already cast.”
Standing Committee Polls
The election for the Standing Committee started late this evening, hours after the election for the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor. Both posts went to AAP, which has 150 votes in the 274-member house — way above the majority mark of 138.
In the Standing Committee, AAP is likely to win three of the six seats and the BJP two. The fight is over the sixth seat, which could help the BJP call the shots in the civic body they controlled for the last 15 years.
