New Delhi, 25 April 2024;
The Aam Aadmi Party is up in arms against the decision of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to cancel the Mayoral poll in Delhi despite a go-ahead from the Election Commission of India to hold the election on April 26.
AAP has nominated Mahesh Khichi for the position of mayor, while Ravinder Bhardwaj will contest for the role of deputy mayor.
This year, the MCD mayor will be elected from the reserved category. The post of mayor sees five single-year terms on a rotation basis, with the first year being reserved for women, the second for the open category, third for reserved category, and the remaining two again for the open category.
Aam Aadmi Party MCD in-charge Shri Durgesh Pathak said this day will be written in black letters in the history of India. This is the first time that despite the Election Commission giving permission to hold Mayor elections in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party cancelled the Mayor elections. The LG nominated by the BJP did it by saying that he cannot conduct the elections and this time and he cancelled the elections. This time a person from Dalit community was made the Mayor of Delhi, but the Bharatiya Janata Party nominee LG cancelled this election whereas the Election Commission had given permission to hold elections. In 2019, when elections were held in the entire country, Delhi got its Mayor. But this time they violated the Constitution and cancelled the election. The reason given is that LG works on the advice of the Chief Minister, what a funny logic. The Chief Minister has given thousands of advice to the LG till date but the LG has not agreed on even a single work.
Shri Durgesh Pathak said you may remember last time when there was a lot of fighting during the mayor’s election, the Chief Minister of Delhi had said that Mukesh Goyal ji is the most senior and he should become the presiding officer, but the LG did not listen to the aid and advice. And some Bharatiya Janata Party worker was made the presiding officer and some Bharatiya Janata Party worker tried to kill the Constitution. We had to go to the Supreme Court, we took permission from the Supreme Court and the presiding officers of the Bharatiya Janata Party was removed. Similarly, in Chandigarh, the BJP disrupted the process of electing the mayor of Chandigarh by appointing the presiding officer of Bharatiya Janata Party, who committed irregularities.
Shri Durgesh Pathak said Mayor elections were to be held in Delhi tomorrow at 11:00 am but they cancelled the mayor elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidates are saying that they want 400 seats because they want to change the Constitution of Baba Saheb. If today they can cancel the election of Mayor of Delhi, then they can do anything. There will be no mayor in Delhi now because the Bharatiya Janata Party disrupted the process. Phone calls are being received from the people of Dalit community all over Delhi, today hundreds of people have gathered in our office. Everyone is saying that once in 5 years, the Dalit community of Delhi gets the opportunity to be represented for a full year and the Bharatiya Janata Party is snatching that right. Nothing can be more wrong, more unconstitutional than this. The whole country is watching how the BJP is tearing the Constitution to pieces. And if they win the Lok Sabha elections, they will completely destroy the Constitution, he concluded.
The AAP is confident that both of its candidates will secure victory in the upcoming elections without much difficulty as it has 134 councillors out of the 250-member, while the BJP has 104 councillors in the MCD House.
AAP MLA from Karol Bagh, Shri Vishesh Ravi said this was clear that the AAP had the numbers and with the Congress extending the support, the Mayor was bound to be of the Aam Aadmi Party.
He said as the BJP knew that it would be defeated in the Mayoral elections, which will also have adverse effect for them in the Lok Sabha polls.
The MLA said that the last-minute cancellation of the mayoral election by the BJP despite the permission of the Election Commission of India not only shows that the BJP does not believe in the constitution, it is also anti-Dalit.
Shri Vishesh Ravi said in the Lok Sabha poll on May 25 in Delhi, the Dalits will give the BJP a befitting reply for committing fraud on the Dalits by voting against it.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Trilokpuri Rohit Mehraulia said that Aam Aadmi Party has absolute majority for the mayor elections. As part of a deliberate conspiracy, the BJP’s LG has had the audacity to stop this election. The people of Delhi and the country are watching this. This action of LG Saheb has once again exposed the anti-Dalit mentality of the BJP. This time a person from the Dalit community would have got a chance to represent Delhi as Mayor. The BJP knows that if the Aam Aadmi Party mayor is elected, it will increase the confidence of the people of Delhi in the Aam Aadmi Party. Seeing this, the BJP cancelled the elections. Baba Saheb has made a provision in the Constitution to give opportunity of representation to the Dalits, but the BJP has tried to stop it. It seems that the BJP has decided that it will neither listen to the Supreme Court nor understand the Election Commission. The Election Commission had given permission to conduct mayor elections. Despite this, LG cancelled the elections. The people of Dalit community of Delhi and the country will give answer to the BJP this time.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s mayor candidate, Mahesh Khinchi, said that the Aam Aadmi Party has 135 councillors for the mayor’s election, and we were also getting the support of the Congress. Tomorrow we were going to win the mayor’s election. The Election Commission had also issued a notification to hold elections, but the people from the BJP are showing dictatorship and going against the Constitution. The BJP’s LG postponed the elections. The BJP does not want Delhi to get a Dalit mayor. The BJP is an anti-Dalit party and is working against the Dalits. Even in Chandigarh elections, the BJP tried to stop the Dalit candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party from becoming mayor, which the whole country saw. Now mayor elections were to be held in Delhi on 26th April. This has also been stopped. The BJP wants that the Aam Aadmi Party should not do any work for the welfare of the public. The people of Delhi will give its answer to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
