How the MCD House devolved into chaos over one vote

Friday's election for the six-member standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) devolved into chaos after Mayor Shelly Oberoi declared a crucial vote invalid.

The inavlid vote led to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with two members - instead of three - on the standing committee.

"The voting happened peacefully. The election commission observer was also there when the results were declared that three members of AAP and three of BJP have won. But the mayor is claiming that one slip will be declared invalid," BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat said.


BJP councillors in the House are infuriated over the vote - which was declared fit by representatives from the state election commission and the municipal corporation, according to BJP councillor Shikha Rai.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors, on the other hand, claim that members of their rivals - the BJP - voted in their favour.

"We have got 138 first-preference votes, which means that we got five votes of BJP. These people are those who are impressed with the development model of Arvind Kejriwal. As BJP didn't get sufficient votes they automatically lost but they are not accepting their defeat," said AAP's Saurabh Bhardwaj.

With the veracity of the vote up in the air, the AAP and the BJP could either end up with a 50/50 split on the standing committee or the AAP could end up with four seats to the BJP's two.

"Since no vote was found invalid by the technical expert, six members - Mohini, Mohammad Aamil Malik, Raminder Kaur, Gajendra Singh Daral, Kamaljeet Sehrawta and Pankaj Luthra - were found elected by them. There was no need to undertake re-counting as the counting process was videographed and during counting there was no murmur of any protest from any quarter," Municipal Secretary Bhagwan Singh wrote in a letter to the Mayor.

While Mayor Oberoi made multiple offers to recout the ballots, she refused to reconsider her decision to invalidate the one vote.

Around 8pm, she started declaring the results and announced two winners before BJP councillors broke security cover and jumped onto the stage.

The House descended into chaos at that point, with one BJP councillor throwing a projectile while another tried to snatch the Mayor's papers.

As Oberoi sought to get out of the scuffle, councillors tried to snatch the papers from her, with the Mayor getting hurt in the process.

A scuffle then erupted with councillors from both parties beating each other. Some even fell over onto the benches.

Eight councillors from the Congress didn't participate in the voting and only one, Sheetal Chaudhary from Aya Nagar, was present.

With inputs from TOI, PTI