Delhi: MCD poll for Standing Committee seat postponed due to ruckus

Following disruption over frisking of councillors, the election to MCD Standing Committee was postponed on Thursday with the meeting of the House being adjourned till October 5.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House proceeding for election to the lone standing committee seat was adjourned briefly amid uproar over frisking of councillors to check if anybody was carrying mobile phones.

As soon as Mayor Shelly Oberoi entered the House, she raised concern over the security check of councillors, claiming it was the first time this was happening. It was undemocratic and insulting for the members of the House, she said.

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“The way public frisking is happening is undemocratic and insulting for the councillors. I am adjourning the House for 15 minutes and order MCD commissioner to ensure the entry of councillors without any checking,” Oberoi said and adjourned the House.

The mayor said she wanted the elections to happen but the atmosphere was disrupted due to the frisking.

“This will be remembered in history. The way officers are pressurised and they did not comply to my orders. I am adjourning the House till October 5, 2 pm,” she said later, and left the House.

The BJP councillors started raising slogans “Mayor hosh me aao” and “Standing Committee ka election karwao”.

Earlier, Commissioner Ashwani Kumar was heard requesting everyone on the microphone to follow rules and not bring mobile phones to the House.

The civic body had also pasted an order prohibiting mobile phones in the House.

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Before the House commenced, the BJP and AAP councillors raised objections to this order and protested outside the mayor’s office.

The election is to be held to fill the sole vacancy in the 18-member Standing Committee, the MCD’s highest decision-making body.

This vacancy was created after BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat resigned following her election to the Lok Sabha from the West Delhi parliamentary seat earlier this year.