A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking its intervention and direction to declare the current election process for six members of the Standing Committee to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) as null and void.
Petitioner Sharad Kapoor, associated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and also contested the MCD councillor election through a plea stating that the Mayor has defied every constitutional and statutory norm and despite holding a constitutional post, the Mayor has betrayed the mandate of the Constitution by allowing mobile phones and pens in the election proceedings of the six members of the standing committee despite the mobile phones and pens being explicitly barred in the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
The plea further stated that the Municipal Secretary has explicitly stated that elections cannot be conducted as there are only 245 ballot papers, which are short of the statutorily required 250 ballot papers
The guiding principles for elections for Members through Single Transferrable voting system as enumerated in the handbook of the Election Commission of India require that to maintain the secrecy of the ballot, a violet colour sketch pen is to be provided by the returning officer to each voter and no mobile phones or any type of digital camera is permitted in the voting area, said the plea.
The Plea sought direction for the re-election of the Six Members of the Standing Committee to the Delhi Municipal Corporation afresh after getting the adequate number of printed ballot papers along with other necessary items.
The Bench of Justice Purushainder Kumar Kaurav listed the matter for February 27, 2023
The plea further sought direction that no mobile phones/pens or any other electronic gadget be allowed during the election of Six Members of the Standing Committee of the MCD 2023.
( With inputs from ANI )
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