The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is at loggerheads with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the mayoral election, may lose the executive control of the civic body despite securing a majority in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Election.
AAP’s mayoral candidate Shelly Oberoi has moved the Supreme Court, seeking that civic body chief elections be held “immediately” and that the alderman nominated by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena not be given voting rights as per the law. The AAP alleged that all the elders named are members of the BJP.
However, the mayoral election is not the only concern for the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. The corporators will not only elect the mayor and deputy mayor, but also six out of 18 members of the MCD’s standing committee, which is the main cause of concern for the AAP.
Why is majority in the Standing Committee important for you?
According to a report in the Indian Express, while the Mayor is the nominal head of the civic body as his power is limited to calling special meetings of the House, disqualification of members if they do not furnish details of their assets, and quorum for the House declare. Calling a meeting
However, it is the Standing Committee which has the executive powers. The 10-member committee has the authority to approve financial grants for projects, appoint sub-committees on various issues, discuss and finalize policies to be implemented and make regulations, according to the IE report.
The chairman and a vice-chairman of the committee are elected from among its members. Therefore, it is important for the AAP to have a clear majority in the standing committee, for taking political party control policy and financial decisions related to the civic body.
How are the members of the Standing Committee elected?
According to the report, six members of the committee are directly elected in the MCD house after the election of the mayor. The mayor’s election has also been held up twice on January 6 and 24 after the House was adjourned due to ruckus by AAP and BJP leaders.
The formula for electing members is based on the preferential system in which the first councilor to get 36 votes wins. The remaining 12 members are elected by 12 ward committees belonging to each of the 12 MCD areas.
How can BJP retain power over MCD?
If the Congress abstains from voting for the six members, the BJP can win at least half of the 18 seats in the Standing Committee. In a worst-case scenario for AAP, the BJP could win 10 of the 18 standing committee seats.
role of congress
As per the law, all the elected councilors in the House have the right to vote to elect the six members of the Standing Committee. The corporator who gets the first 36 votes wins. Aldermen play no part in these elections.
If the Congress decides to vote, according to the preferential formula, AAP will easily get three of the six seats as it has a majority of 134 members in the House.
In such a situation, BJP may be in trouble because it will need 108 councilors to get the same number of seats. The BJP has 104 elected councilors and the support of one independent.
In this way AAP is likely to get 4 seats and BJP 2 seats in the Standing Committee.
Trouble starts for AAP when Congress doesn’t vote for you. With the exit of the Congress, the preferential system will change and a member will be elected on the basis of the first 35 votes.
This gives the BJP the magic number of three members as it has 105 corporators. AAP will be able to win only three
Election of the remaining 12 members of the Standing Committee
The remaining 12 members of the Standing Committee are elected by the 12 ward committees of each MCD zone. This is where the role of the nominated aldermen becomes central.
In the recently concluded MCD elections, AAP won 134 out of 250 wards, giving it majority in 8 out of 12 constituencies. Meanwhile, the BJP has a majority in four regions.
Now aldermen can change this equation. Each ward committee consists of all elected councilors in the area as well as any aldermen nominated by the Lieutenant Governor. A total of 10 aldermen can be nominated but there is no set number to be nominated from a particular ward. If the administrator wishes, all 10 can be nominated from the same ward.
Out of 10 aldermen, four have been nominated from Civil Lines Zone, four from Narela Zone and two from Central Zone.
This means AAP will no longer have majority in Civil Lines zone and Narela zone with the votes of aldermen included. The party is likely to face a tough fight in the Central Zone as well.
Now if the aldermen vote, the AAP, which easily won eight of the 12 standing committee members, could get at most six. If it loses the middle zone, the number may come down to five.
possibility of cross voting
The anti-defection law does not apply in the MCD, so cross-voting is not penalised. Voting is done by means of a secret ballot, meaning that councilors are free to choose any member for the mayor as well as a standing committee, regardless of party affiliation.
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