Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi on Friday said that the allegations made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Election Commission over delay in municipal corporation elections do not seem "gracious".
Her remarks came in the wake of Kejriwal earlier in the day stating that the EC was forced to cancel MCD polls and that doing so weakens the country's democratic system.
Slamming AAP chief over these allegations, Lekhi said, "Such allegations on principal institutions (EC) do not seem gracious. I'd like to ask Kejriwal ji, can any city survive without Municipal Corporation? Has he now started the process of removing municipalities."
Addressing a press conference earlier today Kejriwal had said: "The date for MCD polls was to be announced at 5 pm on March 9 but the same day an hour ago, Centre wrote to State EC to combine all three civic bodies into one, and that polls should be delayed. EC agreed to do so...Not okay if polls are cancelled as it weakens EC's role."
The AAP national convenor also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to let the polls take place.
Meanwhile Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi further alleged that Kejriwal had made a "fake" promise in 2012 that he would provide 20 per cent of the budget to local bodies.
"Kejriwal ji made a fake promise in 2012 that he will give 20 per cent of the budget to local bodies, but even the seven to eight per cent of the budget which is being given to the municipalities is being scammed with... Isn't this against municipality reforms?" Lekhi said.
The Centre is planning to bring the bill in the budget session of Parliament to unify the three municipal corporations of Delhi as the EC deferred the announcement of the election schedule for the civic bodies.
However, Kejriwal said that the Centre's main motive behind writing to Election Commission was to "postpone polls", not the unification of municipalities in the national capital.
There are 104 wards each in the North and the South Delhi Municipal Corporations while the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has 64 wards.
( With inputs from ANI )
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