New Delhi : On Saturday, the Delhi High Court granted a stay on the re-election of six members of the Standing Committee of MCD, which was previously scheduled to take place on February 27, 2023. A plea was filed in the Delhi HC to nullify the elections, and the high court has issued notices to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and Mayor Shelly Oberoi on the petition filed by BJP corporators. Two BJP councillors, Shikha Roy and Kamaljeet Sehrawat, moved the Delhi HC against Mayor Shelly Oberoi’s decision to declare one vote invalid during MCD’s Standing Committee election on Friday.

In its order staying the re-election of the MCD standing committee, the Delhi HC stated, “From the perusal of regulation 51, it is nowhere reflected that the Mayor has authority to declare an election of the standing committee as null and void.”

A total of seven candidates contested the standing committee election, with at least 242 out of the 250 councillors in the AAP-run civic body voting to select six members for the MCD’s standing committee. The AAP nominated Aamil Malik, Raminder Kaur, Mohini Jeenwal, and Sarika Chaudhary, while the BJP fielded Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Pankaj Luthra. Independent councillor Gajender Singh Daral, who joined the BJP, is also a candidate.

Following the Mayor’s declaration that one vote was invalid, the BJP alleged that the AAP’s candidate would win, as per their calculation, and that the Mayor disregarded counting rules as set by the Election Commission.