The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday claimed that Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena bypassed rules in the nomination of aldermen to MCD and called the move “unconstitutional.”
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena. (File photo)
By Pankaj Jain: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday accused the 10 aldermen nominated to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) ahead of Friday’s mayoral poll of being BJP workers and alleged that the civic body sent their names directly to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena without keeping the city government in the loop.
The AAP attacked Delhi L-G alleging the illegal appointment of 10 aldermen in the MCD, terming the move unconstitutional. The party has alleged that while bypassing the elected Delhi government, the L-G unconstitutionally notified the names of the nominated councillors of MCD, also known as the aldermen.
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Criticising the development, AAP senior leader and MLA Atishi said, “LG Vinai Saxena called the MCD Commissioner and asked for the file of nominated councillors to be sent directly to him while bypassing the Delhi Government completely. MCD consists of 10 nominated councillors, whose names are always sent to the L-G by the Delhi government under a process, be it Congress or AAP government.”
She further accused the Delhi L-G of trying to “fill BJP people in the Standing Committee and obstruct the policies of MCD.”
“Even before the oath, AAP councillors started working on the ground, cleaning the gullies and dumps, BJP could not tolerate this, because they have started a conspiracy to stop AAP’s work. I request Delhi LG and BJP with folded hands to stop their hooliganism and shut their dirty tricks department, stop trying to stop the work of the people of Delhi,” she said.
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Atishi said, “In December last year, the MCD elections were held in Delhi. For the last 15 years, it was the BJP that controlled the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. But the residents of the city were troubled by the corruption and the misgovernance of the BJP in the MCD. It was because of the mismanagement of the BJP-led MCD that the city had become filled with garbage.”
“ The people had faced the mismanagement of the BJP for rather too long and therefore in the recently concluded MCD elections, they decided to teach the party a lesson and voted them out of power in the MCD. Aam Aadmi Party was a positive option in front of the people of Delhi and they voted for it as they wanted the city to be clean once again. The people wanted things in the MCD to get better, they did not want the corruption to continue, they wanted a political party that had the will to clean the three big garbage mountains of Delhi,” the AAP leader added.
She said, “As you are all aware, the AAP candidates who won the MCD elections have already started to work in their areas and get their streets cleaned. They have done all of this even before taking the oath of office. So, the “dirty tricks” department of the BJP was unhappy with this. They did not like the fact that Delhi was starting to get clean. They did like the fact that the people were very happy after bringing Arvind Kejriwal’s party in the MCD. So, now the “dirty tricks” department of the BJP has gone back to acting like goons and doing one illegal thing after another. Their sole attempt is to find ways to obstruct the developmental works of AAP-led MCD.”
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She added, “Today as part of this plan, a notification regarding nominated members of the MCD has been released under the orders of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi VK Saxena. There are 10 members who are to be nominated to the MCD by the LG. As per protocols that have been followed for decades now, the names of these nominated candidates have been sent to the L-G by the Delhi government. This nomination is sent to the LG through the Urban Development department of the Delhi government.”
Atishi said, “But this time around the “dirty tricks” department of the BJP decided to bring a change in this protocol, and the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi called up the MCD Commissioner and asked him to send the list of nominated candidates directly to him, and as a result bypass the Delhi Government. This file eventually was not sent to the Delhi government as per protocol.
She said, “Usually it is first sent to the Deputy Secretary and then the Director of Urban Local Bodies, then the Secretary and finally the Minister, after which it is sent to the LG. This entire procedure followed under the law has been bypassed this time around, and the MCD Commissioner has directly sent the file to the LG. And today morning, this notification regarding the matter – which let me point out is illegal as it has not followed the procedure established by law – has been issued. In this notification issued today morning, the LG is announcing the 10 names as the “nominated members” of the MCD. I would like to once again repeat that all of this has been done in a way that is illegal and not consistent with the procedure established under law.”
She said, “I would also like to request the BJP and the LG to stop making a mockery of the rules established by law. They should stop acting like thugs and bypassing all established laws. They need to stop trying to obstruct the development work that is being done by the Delhi Government for the people of Delhi. The BJP would be foolish to think that they can stop the development work being done by the AAP-ruled MCD through these 10 nominated members of the MCD.”
She added, “I would like to remind the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena, that it may be the BJP that has appointed him, but his job is to serve the people of Delhi. What is the reason behind the LG’s move to appoint these nominated members in such a manner?”
Atishi attacked BJP and said that ideally the BJP should accept their defeat and work harder on the ground so that the people may vote for them in the future, but instead they are hell bent on acting like goons and bullying a popularly elected government. If they continue to behave like this, and force their workers into the MCD through these “nominated seats”, then the next time there is an election, it is the people who are going to take their revenge against them. Currently, the BJP has a few seats in the Vidhan Sabha and a few seats in the MCD, but if they work against the people of Delhi, then the next time an election comes, they may not even have a representation in both these places.”
