'Mockery of Constitution': BJP, AAP Members Kick, Slap Each Other Over 1 Vote in MCD House | 10 Points

The ongoing tussle between the BJP and the AAP in Delhi’s MCD came to a head on Friday during the counting of votes for the standing committee election, when the verbal clash between the two parties escalated to physical violence.

The clash broke out after Mayor Shelley Oberoi announced one vote for the six-member Standing Committee (the apex decision-making body of the MCD) election invalid. BJP councillors protested against this, alleging tampering and started sloganeering. As AAP members retaliated, members from both sides soon resorted to raining kicks, punches and slaps on each other. Eventually the House was adjourned and re-election announced on February 27.

Here are the key points from all that went down on Friday:

• Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi adjourned the House amid the ruckus and announced re-election for the six-member standing committee on February 27. All ballot papers have been torn, she said.
• Protesting against the Mayor’s order for re-election on February 27, the Delhi BJP said they would approach the court against the re-election order.
• AAP members gathered at Kamla Market Police Station on Friday demanding an FIR against the BJP for “an attempt of murder on AAP’s women councillor”, following ruckus at Civic Centre.
• The Mayor alleged that despite meeting their demands, the BJP created a ruckus. “Standing committee elections were held as per BJP demands. Still, they created a ruckus and came up on stage to attack me…Today is a black day. Mockery of Constitution was done and today, the House saw a black day,” she told reporters.
• Alleging that she was attacked, Mayor Oberoi said, “I thank female Civil Defence personnel for saving me. BJP members physically assaulted AAP female members.” She later took to Twitter to request an urgent meeting with the Delhi Police commissioner regarding her attack. AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “She somehow escaped and one of the civil defence personnel showed her hand which had bite marks. The way they attacked our mayor, we will take legal action,” he said.
• Delhi BJP alleged that the violence was instigated by AAP MLA Atishi and will reportedly lodge an official complaint with the Delhi police against her. They also shared a purported video on social media of the AAP leader talking to women councillors shortly before they engaged in a physical clash and accused her of instigating them.
• The BJP alleged that the Mayor was acting on the instructions of Delhi CM Kejriwal and accused the AAP of tampering with the voting process. “Six members were supposed to be elected to Standing Committee. 3 members each from AAP & BJP were elected. One AAP member lost. All this was done to make him win and results tampered with,” BJP’s Vijender Gupta told reporters.
• BJP councillor Shika Rai alleged that the mayor declared the vote invalid when the election commission officer left the House. After the voting, the officers from the election commission made a sheet and gave it to the mayor but when the mayor saw that the seats have been won by the BJP, one of the poll agents of the AAP took out a vote and said it is invalid, she said.
• Members resorted to violence against each other, and both AAP and BJP blamed each other. Police personnel and marshals tried to contain the situation as councillors hit, slapped and kicked each other. One AAP councillor, Ashok Maanu, collapsed. Meanwhile, BJP’s Meenakshi Sharma alleged that she has been attacked with a sharp object and displayed a gash on her arm.
• Fresh elections were held on Friday morning after a failure to conduct them on Wednesday. The MCD House had also witnessed ruckus on Wednesday night, and as many as 15 adjournments.

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