Polls for vacant MCD standing committee seat on Sept 26

New Delhi
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has initiated the process to hold elections for the last vacant seat of the standing committee during a meeting of the house of councillors on September 26, officials said on Thursday.
The seat fell vacant after previous member and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat resigned as the Dwarka-B representative in June to contest the Lok Sabha polls.
According to an MCD notification dated September 12, candidates had till Thursday to file their nominations, and the candidates from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and BJP filed their papers before the deadline ended.
A senior MCD official said BJP’s candidate Sunder Singh, from ward number 158 (Bhati), will face off against AAP councillor from ward 112 (Sainik Enclave) Nirmala Kumari.
“The AAP candidate came with mayor Shelly Oberoi and other standing committee members to file her nomination at the municipal secretariat. Tanwar was accompanied by leader of the opposition Raja Iqbal Singh. The elections will be held through a secret ballot and any candidate can withdraw the nomination till the polling day,” the official said.
No other councillors filed their nominations for the elections.
The standing committee — a powerful panel that controls the purse strings of MCD — comprises 18 members, 12 of whom are elected by zonal wards committees, and the remaining six are directly elected by the house of councillors.
However, this powerful panel’s formation has been stuck for 20 months due to a political and legal tussle between the AAP and the BJP.
Last year, in February, polls for the six members directly elected to the committee devolved into chaos and pandemonium after mayor Shelly Oberoi, who was chairing the meeting, ruled that a repoll would be held. Later, the BJP took the matter to the Delhi high court, which on May 23 this year set aside Oberoi’s ruling, resulting in both the AAP and BJP securing three seats each.
Separately, zonal elections were held earlier this month, with the BJP winning seven of the 12 seats and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) getting five.
Sehrawat’s resignation has led to a seat falling vacant. But unlike the previous elections held in February 2023, in which six seats were at stake, voting this time will not be held on a preferential basis.
“In the last election, all members had to list their choices by preference — first, second, third, and so on. Since there is only one vacant seat this time, it will be a direct election with a simple majority,” the quoted above official said.
Currently, AAP has 127 members in the house, BJP 112, Congress nine, and one seat is with an independent councillor. Since the AAP has a simple majority in the house, it is very likely that the party will win the seat unless cross-voting occurs on a large scale.
If the AAP wins the last standing committee seat, there will be a situation where both the ruling party and the BJP have nine seats in the panel.
Anil Gupta, former chief law officer of MCD said that a standing committee with nine members from each party is likely to face many procedural challenges. “Suppose one party wins the chairman post and a member is elevated to chair the meeting. There will still be problems in clearing proposals with lesser votes. The chairperson usually casts a vote when both sides are equal. Both parties may have to cooperate for things to operate smoothly,” he said.
However, the MCD official quoted above said, “In case of a tie, with both parties securing nine votes each, a draw of lots will be carried out. A neutral person acceptable to both parties will draw a name slip from the ballot box to decide a winner.”