Delhi HC Permits BJP Councillor To Withdraw His Plea Over Use Of Phones In MCD Standing Committee Polls

The Delhi High Court today allowed BJP councillor Sharad Kapoor to withdraw his plea which alleged that city mayor Shelly Oberoi defied established norms and propriety by allowing the use of mobile phones and pens during the election of standing committee members of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The matter was listed for hearing before Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav. Kapoor had approached the high court last week following the voting for six standing committee members held on February 22 and prayed that it should be declared null and void.

Fresh polls for the MCD's highest decision-making body were, however, conducted on the mayor's order on February 24, the day the plea was heard by the high court. The polling held on February 24 also remained inconclusive and the mayor announced re-election on February 27 but the decision was stayed by the high court in another matter.

In his petition, Kapoor had said the mayor defied every constitutional and statutory norm and betrayed the mandate of the Constitution by allowing mobile phones and pens in the election proceedings held on February 22.

"In a bizarre turn of events, the newly-appointed mayor, in a brazen defiance of constitutionally-established norms and propriety, allowed the councillors to bring their mobile phones and pens during the voting process with the malafide intent of manipulating and vitiating the election process," the petition filed by Kapoor through Advocate Neeraj said. The petitioner said he, along with others, had staged a vociferous protest against this illegal and arbitrary act.

In a special hearing held on February 25, the high court had stayed the re-election for six members of the MCD standing committee which was scheduled for February 27. The stay order was passed on petitions by BJP councillors Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Shikha Roy assailing the re-election. The petitions are pending before the high court.

The high court had said in the stay order that the governing norms do not reflect the Delhi mayor's authority to declare the earlier election as null and void and conducting the re-election without declaring results of the previous poll held on February 24 is prima facie in violation of the applicable regulations.

The MCD House had witnessed ruckus on February 22 with members of the BJP and the AAP exchanging blows and hurling plastic bottles at each other. The municipal House was again rocked by clashes after fresh elections were held on February 24 and mayor Oberoi subsequently alleged that a few members of the saffron party inflicted life-threatening attack on her.

With PTI Inputs