Delhi Election Commissioner S.K. Srivastava on Wednesday said the DEC deferred the announcement of Municipal Corporation election dates after the Central government raised a few issues that were yet to be legally examined by the Election Commission. Addressing the press conference, the State Election Commissioner said, “I have received some communication from the Central government at 4.30 pm, so I am not able to announce the dates right now” “As the Central government raised a few issues that are yet to be legally examined by us, we will not be able to announce MCD election dates as of now. We will take some more days. We have to conduct the elections before 18 May,” Srivastava added. He further said that they were about to announce the dates, but now it will take another five to seven days to announce them. “We are not postponing the elections. If at all unification of municipal corporations takes place before 18 May, then we have to examine the situation. That is why we need time as of now to seek legal opinion on it,” Srivastava said. The Model Code of Conduct will be in place after the announcement of the poll schedule. In the 272 seats of the Delhi Municipal Corporation, there are 104 wards each in the North and the South Delhi Municipal Corporations while the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has 64 wards.
The Centre apparently wants to merge all the municipal corporations together.
Following the development, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the Election Commission (EC) of buckling under BJP’s pressure. Reacting to the development, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Kejriwal said, “Can Central govt ‘direct’ any EC to delay/cancel any elections? Under which provision? Are these ‘directions’ binding on EC? Why is EC buckling under pressure? Will Modi ji not even allow elections in this country now?”
“BJP ran away. MCD election postponed, conceded defeat. Delhiites are very angry. Saying dare they not conduct the elections? Will forfeit their bail now. In our survey, we were to win 250 of the 272 seats. Now more than 260 will be ours. But the Election Commission should not have come under BJP’s pressure,” he said in a tweet.
The BJP, AAP, and Congress have been preparing for the elections for months. The AAP, which formed the government in Delhi for a second consecutive time in 2020, seeks to dislodge the BJP. Parties such as Bahujan Samaj Party, Bihar’s ruling Janta Dal (United) also field candidates in Delhi’s municipal polls. Over 10.4 million voters are eligible to vote in the polls. In 2017, the last day of nomination was 3 April. The elections were held on 23 April and the results were announced on 26 April.