Delhi HC sets aside mayor’s decision to call re-poll for MCD standing committee

The Delhi high court on Tuesday set aside mayor Shelly Oberoi’s decision calling for fresh elections of the six standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), while also directing her to forthwith declare the election results as per the voting held on February 24.

The court’s judgment came on pleas by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor Shikha Roy and Kamaljeet Sehrawat against the notice by the mayor to conduct re-election of the six standing committee members.

Pronouncing his verdict, justice Purushaindra Kaurav said that Oberoi’s decision to reject the ballot of one of the persons was bad in law. The court also said that the rejected ballot should also be counted and taken into consideration before declaring the result.

A detailed order is awaited.

The court had reserved its order on May 12. Earlier on February 25, the court had put on hold the re-election on the petitions filed by BJP councillors Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Shikha Roy.

The senior counsels appearing for the petitioners had contended that the mayor, who is also the returning officer, acted in a malafide manner when she called for re-election upon finding the election results “politically unpalatable”.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the mayor, told the court that re-polling was essential to ensure free and fair elections following the “ruckus” in the House during the polls held on February 24.

Senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, also appearing for the mayor, said no case for court’s interference was made out and the authority was only ensuring that the process is done as per law. He claimed that even the note of the municipal secretary noted “discrepancy in counting”.

In a special hearing on February 25, the high court had stayed re-election for six members of the standing committee, which was scheduled for February 27, saying mayor Shelly Oberoi prima facie acted beyond her powers in ordering a fresh poll, while not declaring the results of the earlier polls.

The mayor had on February 24 announced fresh polling for electing six members of the MCD standing committee amid clashes between the councillors of the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the municipal House.

BJP councillors staged protests and created ruckus in the House after Oberoi declared a vote invalid. Oberoi had barely started announcing the results when the ruckus began during which a councillor even ripped off the mayor’s microphone.

The petitioners have contended in the high court that the mayor ordered a fresh election without declaring the result of the poll held on February 24 in violation of regulation 51 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Conduct of Business) Regulations, which contains the prescribed procedure.

Roy’s petition, filed through advocate Neeraj, said the poll was “conducted in a peaceful manner” and there was “no occasion for the mayor to recall the elections”.

While staying the mayor’s re-election call, single judge of justice Gaurang Kanth had said that “prima facie it appears that the mayor is conducting the elections without declaring the results of the election conducted on February 24, which is in violation of the regulation 51 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act, 1957”.