Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday said the Aam Aadmi Party will approach the courts to get the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections conducted, accusing the Centre of purposely delaying the same. Addressing the Assembly, he said that when the Bill to unify the MCDs was passed, the Centre had assured that a delimitation commission would be formed, following which elections will be held. But the panel was yet to be formed, he said. “They don't want elections to be conducted. This is against democracy.” The MCD polls, originally scheduled for April, were put off hours to go for the election schedule to be announced, after the Centre announced its plan to merge the three civic bodies in the city. AAP claims the Centre is delaying the civic elections as it fears a loss. The party just won an Assembly bypoll in Delhi handsomely, and before that, swept the Punjab elections. AAP is expecting both the results to fuel its chances in the Capital, which has a substantial Punjabi population. Rajinder Nagar, where it won the bypoll, also has a large population from the state. In fact, five of the six bypolls in the past 15 months, including four MCD seats in March 2021, have been won by AAP. While the party also has an unassailable lead in the Assembly, an MCD win would help at a different level. “It prepares a fresh line of leadership for the party at the grass-roots. These councillors are very handy in the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha polls as they arrange local-level gatherings and get support for party candidates.” Repeating that the party will go to court, AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak said, “We want monitoring of the delimitation exercise, it cannot be that you stall a democratic process indefinitely.” While speaking in Parliament during the tabling and passage of the MCD unification Bill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had hinted that polls would happen in six months. "Those who are saying that elections (MCD polls) have been postponed due to the fear of polls, themselves are scared. If you are so confident of victory, why do you want elections now? If you have done good work, you will win six months later too,” he had said. However, sources in the State Election Commission (SEC) said they are yet to receive instructions from the Centre for the start of the delimitation exercise. Senior officials in the Election Commission also told The Indian Express that the process “would take at least a year”, adding: “We need to draw up maps, carry out physical verification, hold public hearings to invite objections and resolve them… These things take time.” The Centre has been saying that delimitation was necessary to reduce the 272 seats in the MCD to 250. Indicating a long delay, former mayor of South MCD Kamaljeet Shehrawat and BJP leader said there was no clarity as to “whether the delimitation will be held as per the 2011 Census or the new Census”. The ongoing Census exercise, originally scheduled to take place in 2021, has been delayed due to Covid and pushed to 2023-24. Attacking the AAP government, Shehrawat accused it of not letting BJP councillors function by not allotting funds. “There should be clarity in the distribution of funds methodology, so that whichever government is in power works for the welfare of the people,” she said. Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra also blamed the AAP government “stopping MCD funds” as the reason for the need to “reform the whole system”. Saying it is for the SEC to decide when to hold delimitation, he said: “We do not fear polls, local body elections are happening across India and we are winning at some places and losing at others.” Meanwhile, the new, unified MCD has been on an image makeover exercise, with emphasis on cleanliness and anti-corruption. Its first month of operations in May saw a Corruption Complaint Cell coming up to deal with complaints against municipal officials and departments. Under a Jansunwai campaign, 12 Zonal Deputy Commissioners and two at MCD headquarters meet the public at a scheduled hour five days a week, though this has got off to a slow start. One issue that continues to plague the new MCD is salary delays along with clearing of landfills. AAP's fear is that every passing day gives the BJP-ruled MCD time to get its act together.
