'Wrongly overpowered MCD': Kejriwal, Atishi cry foul after BJP wins MCD standing committee seat

NEW DELHI: Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday launched a scathing attack on Bharatiya Janata Party and accused it of stealing the mandate by wrongly overpowering the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
During his address in Delhi assembly, AAP convenor said that according to rules only the mayor can convene a meeting of the MCD House but the lieutenant governor changed it and directed an additional commissioner of the civic body to do it.
"Is this election?" he posed and accused the BJP of resorting to "hooliganism".
The former chief minister claimed that as per the rule, a notice has to be sent to every councillor 72 hours before the meeting, but it was not followed.
Chief minister Atishi also termed the election of the 6th member of the Standing Committee illegal and unconstitutional.
Taking to X, Atishi said, "The election to the 6th member of the Standing Committee declared by the Central Govt appointed MCD Commissioner, on the directions of BJP’s lieutenant governor is illegal and unconstitutional."
"As per the MCD Act, only the Mayor has the power to convene the House and to be Presiding Officer. If an Addl Commisioner replaces the Mayor in the Corporation today, tmrw BJP might have the Home Secy replace the Speaker in the Lok Sabha!" she added.
Meanwhile, BJP's winning candidate Sunder Singh Tanwar refuted the allegations and said that AAP knew that they would loose the floor test and thought it was better to run away from the election.
" I thank the top leadership for having faith in me. AAP also had filed their nomination but they might not have had trust in their own councillors, they thought it was better to run away from the election," Tanwar said
"They were given opportunities multiple times...everybody was given time of 1 pm today but they did not show up. the Presiding Officer conducted the election free and fair. I won," he added.
MCD LoP and BJP Councillor Raja Iqbal Singh also said, " This is the win of democracy. AAP knew they would lose the floor test so they left battleground.
"AAP is good at lying. They can go to court but the court always pulls them up," he added.
BJP won the last vacant seat of MCD's 18-member Standing Committee unopposed as the councillors of the ruling AAP and Congress boycotted the election. The BJP's candidate Sunder Singh got all 115 votes of the party's councillors while the AAP's Nirmala Kumari did not receive any vote.
The standing committee is the highest decision-making body of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
With this poll result, the BJP now has 10 members in the panel while the ruling AAP has only eight.
The seat had fallen vacant after BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat was elected as the Lok Sabha MP from West Delhi.
In the election, the BJP's Sunder Singh got all 115 votes of the BJP councillors while the AAP's Nirmala Kumari did not receive any vote.