Pandemonium prevailed at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on early morning Thursday after the BJP and AAP members clashed with each other during the meeting to elect six members of the Standing Committee.
Videos from the house showed BJP and the AAP members jostling, exchanging blows and hurling plastic bottles at each other, resulting in the adjournment of the house for the fifth time. Councillors were also seen throwing ballot boxes in the well.
This came as AAP's Shelly Oberoi was elected as the new Mayor of Delhi, defeating BJP's Rekha Gupta by 34 votes.
Chaos erupted following a bitter argument between the members of the two parties over the mode of conducting the election of the six members of the Standing Committee.
According to the BJP, AAP councillors were taking photographs of the ballots using mobile phones during the secret voting. They called it a violation of the secret ballot and demanded the votes cast be rejected and fresh elections conducted.
"We have been asking them to hold the election afresh, since mobile phones were taken to the booth area earlier by members as the mayor had allowed it. Later, when she disallowed it after we protested, we had asked for starting the process afresh, but the mayor was adamant," BJP councillor Shikha Rai alleged.
However, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj hit out at BJP and said that the BJP was trying to stall the standing committee polls. "BJP councillors are trying to postpone the standing committee polls. Supreme Court had clearly said that all elections should happen in the first sitting. So, we want the elections today only, whether it happens at night or in the morning."
He added that the BJP deliberately wants to conduct the whole election of the standing committee again. "In this way, the process will never end. The MCD Secretary has also said that they only have 245 ballots, and we can’t conduct the whole election again," he added.
The war of words soon erupted into heavy sloganeering and chaos. The councillors started throwing ballot boxes in the well and pushed each other, breaking the podium.
A few BJP members claimed that some of their fellow party councillors got hit with objects flung in the air. Raja Iqbal Singh, former North Delhi mayor said, "I got hit in the back with a bottle, and apples and other things were being flung around in the air during the commotion. It was unimaginable."
Mayor Shelly Oberoi too said some BJP councillors tried to attack her during the proceedings. "The extent of BJP hooliganism is that they are trying to attack a woman," she was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the AAP.
Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal reacting to it said it's "absolutely shocking and unacceptable".
AAP had also won the election to the post of deputy mayor. Aaley Mohammed Iqbal won the election, defeating BJP's Kamal Bagri.
Chaotic session
The incident unfolded after the deputy mayor polls when Mayor Oberoi then adjourned the House for an hour. However, as the session didn't resume after one hour, BJP councillor Shikha Rai told the municipal secretary that it was getting late and that the mayor be asked to come back to the House.
The session finally resumed around 6:15 pm and the proceedings to elect the six members of the MCD panel began. As the mayor permitted carrying mobile phones to the booth area, BJP members opposed it.
The mayor adjourned the House around 6:35 pm. Many members had already voted by then. At about 7:40 pm, the mayor asked members who had ballot papers with them, to return it and that only then she would take a further decision.
BJP members then started chanting, "tanashahi nahi chalegi" (dictatorship will not be allowed). A group of BJP members again trooped to the Well of the House, chanting, 'Ek sadan mey do kanoon, nahin chalenge'.
The mayor asked the protesting members to go back to their seats. The House was then adjourned again around 8 pm, for 15 minutes. However, when it resumed around 9:30 pm, the BJP members continued to protest, asking the process to be started afresh.
The proceedings during the exercise to hold the election of six members of the MCD panel were adjourned for nine times, the ninth one being at about 11:35 pm.
Around 10.20 pm, Shikha Rai and several of her party councillors climbed onto the dias while the mayor was still in the chair and pushed for their demands, following which Oberoi adjourned the House. The brawl took place after the adjournment that took place for the eighth time.
Even past midnight, it was still uncertain as to the finality of the election to pick the six members of the panel.
Seven candidates are in the fray for the six members of the standing committee. Aamil Malik of Sri Ram Colony ward, Raminder Kaur from Fateh Nagar ward, Mohini Jeenwal of Sundar Nagari ward and Sarika Chaudhary of Daryaganj ward, are AAP's candidates.
Kamaljeet Sehrawat from Dwarka-B ward and Pankaj Luthra from Jhilmil ward are BJP's candidates. Independent councillor Gajender Singh Daral, who later joined the BJP, is also a candidate.