A hearing was held in the Supreme Court on Friday (February 17) regarding the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Municipal Corporation of Delhi. AAP leader Dr Shaili Oberoi challenged the LG’s decision to allow nominated members to vote in the elections. Along with this, there was a demand to hold elections soon. AAP has got relief from the Supreme Court and both their main demands have been accepted. The Chief Justice (CJI) said that we direct that the mayor should be elected in the first meeting. Nominated members should not vote in this election.
He said that elections for the deputy mayor and other posts should be held under the chairmanship of the mayor. Notice for the first meeting should be issued within 24 hours. Earlier during the hearing, the Chief Justice said that according to Article 243R of the Constitution, the nominated councilors cannot vote. It is better to have an election as soon as possible. MCD’s lawyer Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain said that aldermen (nominated councilors) can vote.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing in the court on behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party, said that I will put two things in front of you. First thing – we are talking about the election of mayor in a municipality. Please see section 243R. Article 243R of the Constitution does not give voting rights to the Alderman. Para 1 says that the nominated person cannot vote. This act for this municipality for this election refers to it, that is section 3A.
Singhvi said that now look at the actual rules. First you elect the mayor and then the mayor presides over the rest of the meeting. The court should fix the date of the election. Whatever it is, they should hold elections. CJI DY Chandrachud said that prima facie, Article 243R shows that nominated members cannot vote. There will be a meeting tomorrow for the first election. The election of the mayor is to be held immediately.
Singhvi said that he twice canceled the election saying that the aldermen would vote. Sanjay Jain said that according to MCD, my understanding is that aldermen can vote. CJI asked to tell us on 243R whether aldermen can vote. Jain said that this meeting of the municipality is different from the first meeting which has a special provision for the election of the mayor. There is no bar for that meeting because the words are that the corporation is allowed to vote.
“All can vote in the first meeting”
The CJI said that then your request is that there is no restriction on voting in the first meeting. On this Jain said that yes, yes. Nominated councilors cannot vote in subsequent meetings of the corporation, but this restriction does not apply to the first meeting to elect the mayor. Everyone can vote in the first meeting. The corporation becomes active only once the mayor is elected.
What did the CJI say?
While getting the order written, the CJI said that the intervention of the Supreme Court was sought regarding the mayoral election. According to Section 35 (1) and Chapter 2 of the DMC Act, the mayor is elected in the first meeting. According to sub-section 3 of section 3, the corporation is formed from councillors. Apart from this, 10 people who are not less than 25 years of age and have special understanding are nominated as members. However, these nominated members do not have the right to vote in the House. For the first meeting, such a councilor is made the chairman, who himself is not a candidate for the post of mayor.
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