BJP wins 7 of 12 zonal wards in crucial MCD polls, AAP bags 5

BJP now controls nine of the 17 present members in the 18-person standing committee and the AAP eight

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday won seven of the city’s 12 zonal wards after a string of defections and the support of 10 aldermen nominated by the lieutenant governor, edging towards gaining significant control over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s purse strings and leaving the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on a relatively weaker footing with five zonal wards.

Security personnel during the elections, at the Civic Centre, on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Wednesday’s elections were conducted peacefully, despite the tussle between Delhi mayor Shelly Oberoi and municipal commissioner Ashwani Kumar the previous night. Still, the 8.5-hour long process was conducted under the watchful eye of police, paramilitary personnel and riot control vehicles that packed Civic Centre.

MCD has 12 administrative zones, and each of them has one “wards committee” to oversee the local zonal affairs, in what is designed to be a decentralised governance model. Each committee is headed by a chairperson and deputy chairman, and it also elects one member each to the powerful 18-member standing committee, which controls the corporation’s finances. The remaining six are elected directly by MCD councillors.

The elections comprised three sets of polls from each panel — chairperson of a zone, deputy chairperson and a standing committee member. The electoral college comprised of elected councillors from that zone and aldermen nominated by the lieutenant governor.

The civic body said that of the 12 wards committees, BJP on Wednesday won seven zones – Keshavpuram, Najafgarh, Shahdara South, Shahdara North, Civil Lines, Central and Narela. The AAP won the remaining five – City Sadar Paharganj, Karol Bagh, Rohini, West and South.

The long-delayed elections, held more than 21 months after the MCD polls, will finally allow wards committees to convene and discuss issues plaguing their respective zones. These statutory committees are also empowered to approve projects worth up to ₹1 crore, said a senior MCD official.

More importantly, Wednesday’s elections take the MCD a step closer to the formation of the all-important standing committee, which has not been formed since the December 2022 civic polls, consequently paralysing all key projects and policy issues for 21 months.

The election for the six standing committee members voted for by councillors was held in February last year, with the BJP and AAP winning three seats each. However, one of the BJP’s members, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, resigned from her seat after being elected as an MP from West Delhi, leaving that spot vacant.

The BJP now controls nine of the 17 present members in the 18-person standing committee and the AAP eight.

The zonal committee elections unfolded only after drama late on Tuesday evening, when mayor Oberoi wrote to commissioner Kumar and refused to appoint presiding officers for the polls, saying her “conscience does not allow her to participate” in what she called an “undemocratic election process”.

This prompted Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena to direct that the deputy commissioners of each zone will perform the role of presiding officers of their respective region’s election. Kumar issued an order to this effect later in the evening, though the AAP said the LG’s intervention was illegal.

The zonal committee elections process was fraught since they were announced on August 28. The schedule, prepared and released by the municipal commissioner, fixed the last date to file nominations as August 30 and set September 4 as the polling date, a window that the AAP said did not allow all councillors to file their nominations.

However, the Delhi high court on August 30 refused to consider a plea by two councillors against the elections and declined to interfere in the process.

Anticipating chaos, police officers and security forces thronged Civic Centre, the seat of Delhi’s civic body. Supporters of political parties were disallowed from entering, and security checks were scaled up.

More than 200 police personnel and paramilitary personnel were deployed, along with two riot control vehicles at both the entrances. Media personnel were also allowed to observe the process at predesignated spots through livestreams.

Hourly slots were fixed for the 12 elections between 10am and 5pm, with polling for two zones held simultaneously at different locations within Civic Centre.

The process for the polls began with the Karol Bagh and City Sadar Paharganj zones. The AAP won both unopposed because the BJP did not field any candidates due to the former’s clear numerical advantage.

These were followed by the BJP winning the Keshavpuram zone unopposed as the AAP did not field any candidates. The AAP then won the West Zone, after the BJP withdrew all their candidates just ahead of the election.

Out of the 12 zones, four were decided without any polling. Of the remaining eight, Rohini zone saw a partial election as BJP contestants for the post of deputy chairman and standing committee member withdrew after the AAP candidate won the chairperson poll. The entire polling process was followed for the other seven zones.

To be sure, no anti-defections laws apply in the civic body’s internal polls and AAP councillors crossvoted in favour of the BJP during the elections for Shahdara North, South and Narela zones.

Of the seven zones the BJP won, two will be headed by chairpersons who defected from the AAP on August 25 – Sugandha Bidhuri in the Central zone and Pawan Sehrawat in Narela.

During the December 2022 elections, the AAP secured 134 seats in the MCD House, while the BJP got 104. After a raft of defections over the last year, the stands at 127 for the AAP, 112 for the BJP and nine for the Congress. One seat, Sehrawat’s, is vacant.

The civic body’s focus will now turn to the formation of the standing committee, which will require the 18th member being picked.

“The standing committee can be constituted only after the 18th member is elected and an election among these members is held to elect a chairperson and deputy chairperson. If the mayor wants, a proposal to hold the election for the 18th member can be brought in the next monthly house meeting. The process will likely take a month to a month and a half,” added the official.

Another MCD official said that given the parties’ current standing, it is possible that the AAP and BJP end up getting nine members each in the standing committee.

“The seat vacated by Sehrawat is likely to go to the AAP, because the party has a clear numerical majority in the House. Sehrawat was elected based on a proportional voting system. But since only one member is to elected, the election will now be held with simple majority. Both parties may end up winning nine seats each. In such a case, the chairperson will be decided through a toss or draw of lots,” the second official said.