MCD standing committee: Three AAP councillors defect to BJP a day before polling

New Delhi
A day before the crucial election to decide the last member of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD’s) standing committee, three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors jumped ship to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, in the presence of Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.
Although the AAP has more councillors in the House than the BJP, 124 to 115, a series of defections have narrowed the difference between the two parties from 30 councillors to nine at present.
A senior MCD official said that the preparations for holding the election during the House meeting on Thursday at 2pm have been completed and heavy police presence will be ensured at the municipal headquarters to ensure an orderly election. The election process will held through a secret ballot in a meeting presided by mayor Shelly Oberoi.
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The three councillors who joined the BJP on Thursday were Behan Preeti, from Dilshad Colony ward, Sarita Phogat, from Green Park ward, and Praveen Kumar, from Madanpur Khadar East ward. To be sure, anti-defection laws do not apply to the MCD House.
BJP chief Sachdeva said that the people of Delhi have completely understood the “corruption of AAP” and even the party’s people lost faith in Arvind Kejriwal. “People are constantly leaving the AAP and now, they want to serve the people by joining the BJP, which is constantly raising the voice of the people of Delhi,” he said.
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Behan Preeti, who is also the secretary to Lala Hardayal Library, said AAP is completely immersed in corruption. “This has forced me to such an extent that I could not support him anymore,” she said.
The AAP, in response, said that during 15 years of BJP’s rule, MCD was the “most corrupt department”.
“As soon as the Aam Aadmi Party came to power on December 20, 2022, the mountains of garbage in Delhi also got reduced to half, owing to which diseases, such as dengue and malaria, were also reported much less this year. But the dirty politics of the BJP does not stop,” the AAP said in its statement.
On August 25, ahead of zonal wards committee elections, five AAP councillors defected to the BJP — one later returned to the party’s fold — which enabled the BJP to win seven of the 12 zonal wards.
Control over the standing committee, the key panel which controls the finances of MCD, has been at the centre of a political and legal tussle between the BJP and AAP over the past 20 months. Of 18 standing committee members, 12 are elected through zonal wards committees and six are directly elected by the House of councillors.
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Currently, the BJP has nine members in the standing committee and the AAP has eight. One seat fell vacant when the BJP councillor from Dwarka-B, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, resigned upon being elected the West Delhi MP.
MCD initiated the election process for the vacant seat on September 12 and the last date to file nomination was September 19. A senior MCD official said that the BJP councillor from Ward 158, Surender Singh Tanwar, filed nominations for the election and will be contesting against AAP’s Ward 112 councillor, Nirmala Kumari.
Since the AAP has a simple majority and aldermen have no role to play, the AAP candidate will likely win, unless AAP councillors cross-vote for the BJP candidate.
An MCD official said that if AAP wins the seat, both parties would have nine members each in the standing committee. “Such an outcome will lead to both parties securing nine members each. The committee will be constituted with election of chairperson and in case of equal number, a draw of lots from ballot box will decide the outcome at a later stage,” the official said.