When the BJP claimed that council members were using their mobile phones to take pictures of the votes during the secret voting and sought new elections, chaos ensued. After reconvening early on Thursday morning, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) house was postponed for a sixth time as AAP and BJP councillors continued to argue and shout slogans at one another. When the BJP claimed that during the secret voting, the council members were allegedly taking images of the ballots through their mobile devices, which is a violation of the secret ballot, mayhem broke out during the election for the members of the standing committee. The BJP has since urged that the votes cast be disregarded and that new elections be held.
After the house broke for the day, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj attacked the BJP, saying, “BJP councillors are trying to postpone the standing committee polls. The Supreme Court had clearly said that all elections should happen in the first sitting. So, we want the elections today only, whether it happens at night or in the morning.” He added, “BJP deliberately wants to conduct the whole election of the standing committee again. In this way, the process will never end. The MCD Secretary has also said that they only have 245 ballots, and we can’t conduct the whole election again.”
Shelly Oberoi, the mayor of Delhi, said earlier during the altercation that BJP council members had attempted to harm her during the Standing Committee elections. Taking to Twitter, Shelly Oberoi alleged, “BJP Councillors just tried to attack me while I was conducting the Standing Committee elections, as per Supreme Court orders! This is the extent of BJP’s Gundagardi that they are trying to attack a woman Mayor.”
After receiving 150 votes on Wednesday, Shelly Oberoi was chosen as the new mayor of Delhi earlier in the day.“I assure you all that I will run this House in a constitutional manner. I expect you all will maintain the dignity of the House and cooperate in its smooth functioning,” Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi said as soon as she was elected as the mayor earlier in the day. The newly elected mayor thanked Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister, and Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister, for entrusting him with such a “great responsibility.” “Today, I got an opportunity to serve the people of Delhi”. “Goondagardi (Hooliganism) has been defeated,” Shelly Oberoi took potshots at the ruling BJP.
He managed to defeat BJP candidate Kamal Bagri by receiving 147 votes to Bagri’s 116. Political squabbling between the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party caused the last three attempts to elect the mayor to fail. First meeting was on January 6, second meeting was on January 24, and final meeting was on February 6. On December 4, Delhi held its municipal elections, and on December 7, the results were made public. Of 250 seats, 134 were won by the Aam Aadmi Party.