The second MCD House meeting is scheduled to be held on Tuesday to elect Mayor, Deputy Mayor and six standing committee members. The meeting is expected to be stormy as all the issues that led to the chaos in the first meeting on January 4.
As per the agenda of the meeting, elected members will take oath first. After that, nominated members will take oath followed by Mayor, deputy mayor andsix standing committee member’s elections. Earlier, the AAP which has 134 councillors in the 250-member House, had objected to the appointment of a BJP councillor as the presiding officer.
The mayor and deputy mayor are supposed to be elected in the very first House that convenes after a municipal poll, which could not happen on January 6 as the House was adjourned following a ruckus between the AAP and BJP members over who would take oath first. Meanwhile, AAP leader Durgesh Pathak on Monday requested the BJP to cooperate with councilors once the MCD house convenes on January 24 for Mayoral election. The House is scheduled to begin from 11am at the Civic Centre, the headquarters of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The aldermen and the newly elected councillors will be administered oath in the House after which the mayoral election will begin, MCD officials aware of the development said. The MCD has been without a mayor for the last 8 months. The nominees for the post of mayor are -- Shelly Oberoi and Ashu Thakur (AAP), and Rekha Gupta (BJP)."As per the agenda, nominated members and alderman will take oath first. Then other members will take the oath. I don't think the AAP will create such an issue because it is their loss. I am hopeful we will be able to elect the Mayor on Tuesday ," Presiding Officer and BJP councillor Satya Sharm said.
Sharma said all preparations for the second house have been done. "We are ready for Tuesday. I have informed the LG and his MCD secretary about the ruckus of the last time," Sharma said, adding that the councillors who were involved in the January 6 tussle should bear the expense of the damage.
Meanwhile, AAP leader Durgesh Pathak on Monday requested the BJP to cooperate with councilors once the MCD house convenes on January 24 for Mayoral election. Urging the BJP to let the house function "peacefully", Pathak said that the AAP councilors want the Mayoral election to be held as soon as possible. "All our councilors will visit MCD house on time and participate in the voting. And together we will work towards fulfilling the dreams of the citizens. "I want to request the BJP to follow the constitution and let the house function peacefully tomorrow.
We would request them (BJP) to cooperate with our councilors," he said. ‘According to the agenda list, first the councillors will be sworn in, then the aldermen, after that the mayor, the deputy mayor and finally the 6 members of the standing committee will be elected. We have been saying from day one that we have no objection if elections are held on the basis of Constitution and DMC Act,’ Pathak said.
Besides 134 councilors, the AAP has three Rajya Sabha MPs, 13 MLAs in the electoral college (150 votes), where as the BJP has 105 councillors, seven Lok Sabha MPs and one MLA (113 votes).
While the 10 persons nominated by the LG (administrator), called alderman, are also part of the House of councillors, they do not have voting rights in the House.