Aam Aadmi Party councillor Pawan Sehrawat on Friday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of a Municipal Corporation of Delhi House meeting to elect six members of the Standing Committee.
The poll to elect members of the Standing Committee holds importance as it plays a powerful role in the city’s civic body. The committee has the power to grant financial approval to projects, appoint sub-committees and hold discussions and finalise policies.
On Thursday morning, the House was adjourned without electing any members of the Standing Committee after AAP and BJP councillors clashed with each other. Videos on social media showed councillors from the two parties throwing water bottles and fruits at each other.
Voting to elect the Standing Committee members was held on Friday with 242 of the 250 councillors casting their votes, said newly-elected Mayor Shelly Oberoi, reported PTI. Eight councillors – Mandeep Singh, Ariba Khan, Nazia Danish, Sameer Ahmad, Shagufta Chaudhary Zubair, Sabila Begum, Naziya Khatoon and Zarif – did not cast their vote.
Later, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed in a tweet that his party has received 138 of the 242 votes – which would amount to a majority for the party. Bharadwaj also claimed that since the AAP has 133 councillors, barring Sehrawat, it meant that five councillors of the BJP had cross-voted.
Ahead of the voting on Friday, Sehrawat had claimed that AAP councillors were instructed to create a ruckus inside the House, and said he was disturbed by it.
“I started to feel suffocated in the AAP on seeing the corruption in the party,” he said.
The Delhi BJP’s working president Virendra Sachdeva and general secretary Harsh Malhotra welcomed the councillor from the Bawana ward 30 into the party.
“AAP councillors are feeling suffocated due to [party chief Arvind] Kejriwal’s anarchic and dictatorial approach,” Malhotra claimed. “One by one, his supporters are bidding goodbye to the Aam Aadmi Party.”
The Standing Committee has a total of 18 members, of which six members are elected in the House and the remaining 12 by Ward Committees.
On Wednesday, the AAP’s Shelly Oberoi was elected as Delhi’s new mayor.
The election for the mayor’s post was postponed three times since the civic polls in December due to a prolonged tussle between the AAP and the BJP. Councillors from the AAP had opposed the presiding officer’s decision to allow aldermen to vote.
Aldermen are nominated councillors who have special knowledge of municipal administration and are tasked with assisting the House in decisions of public importance. They are appointed by the lieutenant governor.
However, in a major relief to AAP on February 18, the Supreme Court held that nominated members of the Delhi municipal corporation cannot vote in the elections for the mayor’s post.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!