After LG intervenes, Sisodia slams BJP

New Delhi: By not holding the election of the sixth member of MCD's Standing Committee, the mayor was "deliberately" trying to "subvert the democratic process", lieutenant governor VK Saxena observed while overturning the postponement and directing MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar to submit a report by 10 pm on Thursday. Late in the night, Municipal Corporation of Delhi announced that the election date would be announced later. Calling LG's move "unconstitutional" and slamming central govt for "murdering democracy", senior AAP functionary Manish Sisodia alleged that BJP was manipulating the process by excluding AAP and Congress councillors. At a press conference, the former deputy chief minister claimed that the mayor had "tried many times" to get the elections done properly. "But there was a lot of commotion. She had to halt the process many times. The mayor, who is also the presiding officer, has the legal right to decide how the elections will be held and when the meeting will be held," Sisodia said.LG observed that Standing Committee had not been constituted for more than one and a half years and the municipal authorities were not able to discharge their functions and duties properly in its absence, impacting municipal governance. "The high court was forced to step in on several occasions, severely castigating MCD for its persistent default in discharging its statutory obligations. Due to this unfortunate failure of the mayor to discharge her function in conducting the election... the extraordinary and exceptional powers under Section 487 of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957 are required to be invoked," Saxena said, directing the deputy mayor to be made the presiding officer if the mayor refused to hold the elections."In case the deputy mayor also refuses, the senior-most member of the House will preside over the elections," he ordered.Sisodia slammed LG for writing from abroad and demanding the election to be completed by a particular time. "All the councillors had left, but LG, from abroad, ordered the commissioner to hold the elections. What a disaster this announcement is. The mayor has announced that the next meeting will be on Oct 5, then what is the urgency of concluding the election by 10pm?" he questioned."I wondered what was the purpose of BJP for doing so. Then I was told that all the councillors of BJP, their MPs, their functionaries, their officials, everyone was sitting while AAP councillors had left," Sisodia added.