New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday (January 9, 2023) held a protest outside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in the national capital over the aldermen nominated by the Lieutenant Governor to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House being administered oath before the elected representatives.
The protest was led by AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj, Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand and party leader Adil Ahmad Khan.
Accusing the saffron party of flouting rules, Bharadwaj said that “they are not Congress” and that “they won’t let BJP capture MCD”.
“We will give our lives but we will keep snatching our rights from BJP,” Bharadwaj told reporters.
Earlier last week, the maiden meeting of the MCD House was adjourned without electing the mayor and deputy mayor as BJP and AAP councillors exchanged heated words and came to blows over presiding officer Satya Sharma administering oath to the aldermen first and not the elected representatives. Only four aldermen could take oath before the House plunged into chaos on January 6.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party alleged that the saffron camp made the aldermen take oath first in order to get them voting rights for the mayor and deputy mayor elections.
“We are here to protest against what was done on January 6. We feel that these nominated aldermen were administered oath first as they might be given voting rights. We want a statement from the LG that they will not vote and only then our protest will end,” AAP’s mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi said.
Lt Governor VK Saxena had nominated 10 aldermen to the MCD House on January 3.
The AAP had alleged that all the nominated members were BJP workers and the civic body sent their names directly to Saxena without keeping the city government in the loop.
Aldermen refers to people who are experts in their fields. However, they do not have voting rights in the mayoral election.
Bureau Report
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