After its debacle in the recent Delhi University Students’ Union election, a serious debate going on in the Aam Aadmi Party whether it should contest any of the 13 municipal wards due for byelections in the near future in the national capital. The AAP students’ wing, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), lost all the four prestigious posts to the BJP-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
A section within the AAP leadership is reportedly of the view that the party should stay away from the byelections and focus on the elections in all the 272 municipal wards in April 2017. However, a small section within the party is said to be in favour of contesting the byelections as they feel that by staying out of the contest could send a wrong signal to the electorate that the party was scared after its crushing defeat in the DUSU poll.
A senior AAP functionary said that the Dusu election would not have any bearing on the municipal polls as the two elections are contested completely on different issues. “If Dusu election had anything to do with the outcome of the general elections, then why did the BJP, whose students’ wing ABVP had won the university election, was almost wiped out in the Assembly elections ”
There are indications that senior AAP leadership has decided that the final call on municipal byelections should be taken by its Delhi unit. “It would be better, if the Delhi unit, after holding due consultations with its senior functionaries takes a call on the matter,” a local AAP leader told this newspaper.
So far, the AAP government has locked horns with the State Election Commission by not responding to its reminders for holding byelections in the 13 municipal wards. Despite repeated reminders by the commission, the city government is yet to take a call on whether to hold municipal bypolls for the wards which have fallen vacant over the past two years.
Seven municipal seats fell vacant in 2014 and six others were left without any elected representative this year. The municipal wards lying vacant are Khichripur and Jhilmil in East MCD, Wazirpur, Shalimar Bagh North, Kamruddin Nagar and Ballimaran in North MCD and Matialla, Bhatti, Munirka, Nanakpura, Nawada, Tehkhand and Vikas Nagar in South MCD.
The State Election Commission had first written to the chief secretary in May about the byelections. But the city’s senior-most bureaucrat had told the commission that by-elections could not be held as the government was busy with the Budget Session.
The poll panel again wrote to the AAP government, this time with a request that it be provided with money and staff to conduct the byelections in 13 municipal wards in October. Election commissioner Rakesh Mehta had said that the polls had to be conducted at the earliest as it would be extremely difficult for the commission to carry out this exercise after the commencement of the festive season in mid-October.
The Delhi high court too had recently issued notice to the city government, acting on the commission’s application, to direct the government to provide funds and resources to hold the byelections in 13 wards.
The court impleded the Delhi government, a party in the case, and sought its response by September 21. Filing an application in an ongoing plea that had sought to hold the byelections in 13 wards and to fill casual vacancies in all the three corporations, the commission said that it needed Rs 21 crore for the election, which has to be provided on behalf of the MCD by the Delhi government.
The commission is interested in holding elections immediately but for that it depends on external sources to provide manpower, materials and funds. It said, about 4,500 ground-level personnel would be required for two weeks, 50 officers from the Delhi government who would be appointed as the returning officers, election observers and expenditure observers for a period of two months to conduct the elections, which are to be provided by the city administration.
