LG approves Feb 16 for convening of MCD House; 4th meeting to elect mayor

Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena has given his approval to convene the next session of the MCD House on February 16 for election to the post of mayor, his office said on Sunday.

This will be the fourth meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House since December's civic polls to elect the mayor. The last three meetings were adjourned amid ruckus and commotion over the decision to give voting rights to the aldermen.

The government had sent the proposal to hold the House session on February 16 and Saxena accepted it, the Lt Governor's Office said.

Besides the mayor, the House will also elect the deputy mayor and members of the standing committee.

According to a note issued by Saxena, "As recommended by... (the) chief minister (of Delhi), I approve (the) proposal to convene the adjourned first meeting of Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Thursday, 16th February at Dr SP Mukherjee Civic Centre for election of mayor, deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee."

Praveen Shankar Kapoor, the BJP's Delhi unit spokesperson, welcomed Saxena's decision and said the AAP should abide by the presiding officer's directions.

"The BJP will extend all cooperation to the presiding officer in holding the three elections simultaneously through secret ballot with voting rights for aldermen, as announced by the presiding officer in the last meeting.

"We call upon Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders to abide by the directions of the presiding officer and allow peaceful holding of the simultaneous elections of mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee members," Kapoor said.

After the MCD polls in December, the House first convened on January 6 but was adjourned following acrimonious exchanges between BJP and AAP members.

The second meeting on January 24 was briefly adjourned after the oath-taking ceremony before being adjourned till the next date by the protem presiding officer.

On Monday, the House was adjourned for the third time without electing a mayor following a ruckus over the decision to allow aldermen to vote in the mayoral poll.

The AAP alleged a "planned conspiracy" by the BJP to stall the process and said the mayoral poll could not be held as the BJP was "strangulating democracy and the Constitution of India".

The saffron party, on the other hand, accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit of making excuses to stall the process and blamed it for the stalemate.

With 134 seats, the AAP emerged as the clear winner in the December polls, ending the BJP's 15-year rule in the civic body. The BJP won 104 wards while the Congress won nine in the 250-member House.

The civic body in Delhi was trifurcated into north, east and south corporations in 2012 before being reunfied into a sole MCD last May.