MCD standing committee poll with additional commissioner as presiding officer unconstitutional: AAP

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party termed the election of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi standing committee member scheduled for 1 pm on Friday as "unconstitutional and illegal" and asserted that the election will only be held on October 5.

Following disruption over frisking of the councillors on Thursday, the election to the MCD Standing Committee was postponed till October 5 by Mayor Shelly Oberoi.

Later Lt Governor VK Saxena, however, overturned the postponement of the elections and directed MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar to hold the election on Friday at 1 pm.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia and MCD Mayor Shelly Oberoi accused the BJP and the municipal commissioner of making a mockery of democracy and the constitution.

Sisodia alleged that the commissioner issued an order late Thursday, directing the election to be conducted with an additional commissioner as the presiding officer.

"The BJP is attempting to repeat what it did in the Chandigarh mayoral poll, where it was caught red handed," he said.

As per rules, only the mayor, deputy mayor or a senior councilor can preside over the meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House. The mayor has already announced the House meeting and election of the standing committee member for October 5, he said.

Sisodia further claimed that the commissioner's order for the election, issued at the direction of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, is "illegal".

Oberoi said she had already announced the next House meeting and the election of the sixth member of the standing committee on October 5 and that she was committed to a free and fair election.

This order by commission is "unconstitutional, null and void and illegal", she added.

She asserted that the election will only be held on October 5.