When Mayor Dr. Shelly Oberoi already announced that polls be held on 5th October, what was urgency that BJP’s LG has ordered to conduct election within an hour: Manish Sisodia

After the Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) ordered MCD Standing Committee elections to be held within an hour and a half i.e by 10 pm itself, in a fiery rebuke, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia slammed Prime Minister Modi’s government for ‘murdering democracy’.

The AAP leader called the move unconstitutional and pointed out that the BJP is manipulating the process by excluding AAP and Congress councilors and only conducting elections when the BJP councilors are present.

In a press conference, former Deputy CM of Delhi and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said that under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, the BJP is setting new records of murdering democracy, with each passing day. Even tonight, on the orders of PM Narendra Modi, the BJP is murdering democracy in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

“Today, the MCD Standing Committee members were to be elected but there was chaos the whole day. Delhi Mayor, Dr. Shelly Oberoi tried many times to get the elections done properly. But there was a lot of commotion. She had to halt the process many times. She called for a meeting again and again. She had to halt again due to the commotion. After that, the Mayor, who is also the Presiding Officer and has the legal right to decide how the elections will be held, and when the meeting will be held,” he added.

Manish Sisodia shared that the Mayor decided that due to the commotion, she rescheduled the meeting to 5th October and the Standing Committee elections will be held again on the same day. After that, all the councilors left. But then, at 8.30 pm, we got to know that the LG has written a letter to the MCD Commissioner, that within 1.5 hours, i.e. till 10 pm, the MCD Standing Committee elections should be completed. At around 8.30 pm, this letter reached the Commissioner, even though the LG is somewhere abroad.

“But from there, he has written a letter to the Commissioner, that the elections of MCD should be held at any cost, at night. Till 10 o’clock at night, the elections of the Standing Committee of MCD should be held. The Mayor has said that the whole day there was a commotion and had announced that the next meeting will be on 5th October.

“All the councilors have left. But the LG, from abroad, orders the Commissioner to hold the elections. The LG told the Commissioner to hold the elections in the presence of the Mayor. If the Mayor is not there, then it should be done in the leadership of the Deputy Mayor. And if the Deputy Mayor is also not found, then it should be done in the leadership of any senior member,” stated the senior AAP leader.

“What kind of trouble has come despite the Mayor has announced that the elections will be on 5th October. Then what is the urgency till 10 o’clock at night? I came to know that all these letters are also being sent to the BJP councilors,” added Manish Sisodia

Manish Sisodia said that I was wondering what is the purpose of the BJP for doing so? Then I understood what the real game is. In the evening, a worker from MCD told me that at this time, the councilors of the AAP have left the MCD complex, and so have the councilors of Congress. But the BJP has kept its councilors with its leaders, with its MPs, sitting with the Commissioner.

Manish Sisodia said that they already knew that the LG will write a letter and the Commissioner’s order is coming. They already knew everything, that’s why everyone was sitting there. The Mayor has adjourned the house for the next date. All the councilors of BJP, all the MPs, their leaders, their officials, everyone was sitting there.

“In LG’s letter, they have opened the entire Pandora Box. It’s a murder of democracy. In Chandigarh, the BJP was caught shamelessly, and today it is being caught shamelessly again. The BJP is playing with the future of Delhi. The BJP was also caught by the Supreme Court. Aren’t they ashamed to treat the constitution like this,” he added.

“Today you are doing the same thing that you did in Chandigarh.I say to BJP, if you have a little shame, then get this letter returned. Let the election be held on the date set by the Mayor. The election will be held in four days. I will request the BJP people, if there is even a little sense left, then respect the constitution, respect democracy, and don’t let such incidents like the Standing Committee elections happen,” he concluded.