Aam Aadmi Party’s Mahesh Khinchi —  councillor from Karol Bagh’s Dev Nagar ward — will be the next Mayor of Delhi, having won the election by a wafer-thin margin. Mr Khinchi, Delhi’s first Dalit Mayor, got 133 votes and the BJP’s Kishan Pal 130 votes in the election held this evening after much chaos and disruption that included a walkout by the Congress members.  AAP’s Ravindra Bhardwaj was elected unopposed to the post of Deputy Mayor.

BJP councilor Ms Neeta Bisht, the opponent of Mr Bhardwaj, a councilor from Aman Vihar, Ward No. 41, had withdrawn her nomination at the last minute. 

The BJP had 120 members, but managed to get 10 more votes. In a statement later, the party claimed it was a case of cross-viting by AAP members.

“Eight Aam Aadmi Party councillors voting in favour of the BJP and two votes being declared invalid is not only a victory for democracy but also a big moral defeat for Arvind Kejriwal. Arvind Kejriwal no longer has the moral right to remain the “AAP” convenor,” the statement read. 

Mr Khinchi’s tenure will only be for five months, with the election being repeatedly postponed since April. It was this issue that caused the walkout by the Congress, which wanted a full one-year tenure for the first Dalit mayor. 

Amid the chaos, Congress’s Mohammad Khushnood and his wife Sabila Begum — Councillor of Mustafabad Ward 243) — resigned from the primary membership of the party, saying she would vote for the AAP candidate. While the seven Congress members walked out as the voting started, she stayed back to vote. 

In her resignation letter, Sabila Begum said her objection was to the party’s walkout decision, which would only benefit the BJP. 

The election, normally held every April, has been delayed over a tussle between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP, and the new Mayor is expected to get only a five-month term. 

The initial delay in the election took place as then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was in judicial custody in the excise policy case. Then AAP boycotted the election held in September after the councillors were frisked. That time too, the Congress had abstained from voting.

There was further delay over procedural disputes, including the appointment of a presiding officer by the Lieutenant Governor.

New Delhi:

The latest flashpoint between Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Lieutenant Governor came to an abrupt halt late on Thursday evening as the election of a single Standing Committee member of the civic body, which VK Saxena was insisting on being held by 10 pm, was called off.  After an all-evening drama that included an eleventh-hour press conference by senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, officials from Raj Bhavan said the election cannot not be held on Thursday. The fresh date is Friday at 1 pm. 

Pointing to the Lieutenant Governor’s message that the election has to be held by 10 pm, Mr Sisodia had told reporters, “How can elections be held without councillors? AAP and Congress councillors have gone home”. 

Then he added, “Elections on one hour’s notice is unconstitutional’.

Election for the seventh member of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s Standing Committee – scheduled for today — was deferred by Mayor Shelly Oberoi till October 5. Her move came after a row over security check of the councillors — who were not being allowed even to carry their cellphones inside. The mayor had called it “undemocratic” and “unconstitutional”. 

But Mr Saxena overturned it with an order that said the MCD Commissioner, Ashwini Kumar, is “directed to submit a report of conduct of elections of the sixth member of standing committee by 10 pm today”.

“In case the Mayor is unavailable or refuses to preside over the meeting. the Deputy Mayor may be requested to preside over the meeting for conduct of elections,” the order read. 

The Standing Committee of the MCD is responsible for taking most of its financial decisions. Currently it has three AAP and two BJP members. 

The appointment of a sixth member – pending for months – is expected to break the tie. With 12 members from zones already elected, it would take the tally to eight members for AAP and nine for the BJP in the 18-member Standing committee.

AAP has alleged that today’s order was the Lieutenant Governor’s tactic to tilt the balance of power towards the BJP.

In a statement, the BJP said it had asked the MCD Commissioner to hold the election as per law and directions of the Supreme Court. The party said it would file a contempt petition against the Mayor and Arvind Kejriwal tomorrow on Friday. 

This vacancy was created after BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat resigned following her election to the Lok Sabha from the West Delhi parliamentary seat earlier this year. 

New Delhi:

A councillor of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that he was kidnapped today by a group of BJP leaders.  Ramchandra is one of the councillors who left AAP and joined the BJP last Sunday and four days later, traced his steps back.  After hours of hue and cry, the councillor showed up, and alleged that he was forcibly picked up by several BJP men.

“In the morning, five or six people came to my house, took me to the BJP office in a car. There they threatened me with CBI and ED. My leaders called the police commissioner and they got me released,” he told reporters.

“I am not scared of CBI and ED. I am a true soldier of Arvind Kejriwal,” he added.

Delhi BJP’s media in-charge Praveen Shankar Kapoor denied that his party has anything to do with this.

“You guys are the kings of fake sensationalism. Councillor Ramchandra is not in your party We have nothing to do with it, but It is certain that he is sitting in his house And you people are spreading rumours,” read his post on X. formerly Twitter.

Earlier today, in a post on X,  senior party leader Manish Sisodia said: ” BJP threatened councillor Ramchandra ji with ED and CBI. When he did not get scared, BJP goons picked him up in a car and took him away”.

It was a comment on a video posted by party colleague Sanjay Singh.
The video shows the councillor’s son Akash Ramchandra alleging that his father has been forcibly abducted from his office by a local BJP leader and his aides. The leader came to meet his father this morning. They threatened to get him framed by the Central investigating agencies, forced him into their car and drove off, he alleged.

“BJP’s open hooliganism in the country’s capital, councillor Ramchandra has been kidnapped after being threatened. He has been threatened to be defamed by using ED and CBI. Listen to his son Akash. What is happening in Delhi,” read a rough translation of Sanjay Singh’s post
that accompanied the video.

देश की राजधानी में BJP की खुलेआम गुंडागर्दी पार्षद रामचंद्र को धमका कर उनका अपरहण कर लिया गया है।
उनको ED CBI लगाकर बदनाम करने की धमकी दी गई है।
सुनिए उनके बेटे आकाश को।
दिल्ली में ये क्या हो रहा है @AmitShah@LtGovDelhi@CPDelhipic.twitter.com/UtAeB3q4Un

— Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) September 1, 2024

AAP held an immediate press conference, levelling strong accusations against the BJP.

“I am searching for him on the road, his phone is switched off,” said AAP leader Dilip Pandey. “Shahbad Dairy police station SHO has been talked to, who says that no such kidnapping case has been registered in his police station,” AAP said at the press conference.

New Delhi:

The Delhi government has “come to a standstill” after the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the High Court said today while hearing a petition on the state of education in schools run by the city civic body. A Chief Minster’s post in a buzzing capital like Delhi is not ceremonial and it is post where the office holder has to be available 24×7. His absence cannot deprive children of their free text books, writing material and uniforms, the court said.

“National interest and public interest demands that no person who holds this post is incommunicado or absent for a long stretch or for an uncertain period time,” said the bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora.

The court held that the admission of Delhi’s Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj — that any increase in financial power of MCD commissioner shall require approval of Mr Kejriwal – amounts to an admission that “Delhi government has come to a standstill” after the Chief Minister’s arrest.

The petition had maintained that nearly two lakh students lacked basic amenities at the beginning of the academic year due to administrative hurdles.

During the hearing on April 26, the High Court came down heavily on Mr Kejriwal, the Delhi government and the civic body for their failure to provide textbooks. Mr Kejriwal’s insistence on holding the post even after his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case puts political interest over national interest, the judges had said.

Following the rebuke, the office of the Lieutenant Governor had accused the AAP-led Delhi government and Saurabh Bharadwaj of delaying the approval of a proposal to temporarily enhance the financial powers of the MCD Commissioner from Rs 5 crore to Rs 50 crore.

Officials argued that the delay has hampered some crucial projects linked to education, health, and sanitation, as the Standing Committee of the Corporation has not been constituted for over a year.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Sunday found itself in a bit of a soup after Singapore’s High Commissioner to India, Simon Wong, highlighted a significant spelling error in the name of his country on a signboard installed near the high commission. 

Mr Wong, who discovered the gaffe while on his morning walk, took to X and asked the MCD to do a ‘spell check’ before installing the signage

The post featured a picture of signage and Mr Wong. The caption read, “It is always good to spell check first. HC Wong.”

See the post here:

It is always good to spell check first. HC Wong@tweetndmc@MCD_Delhipic.twitter.com/wv9HDECxDx

— Singapore in India (@SGinIndia) October 8, 2023

Posted a few hours ago, the post has amassed more than 1,48,000 views on X. The post received a barrage of comments on social media. 

A user wrote, “A big oops moment hope @MCD_Delhi fixes it ASAP.”

Another user wrote on X, “Good advice…but then where will our smiles come from?”

“It is what happens when people translate from Hindi word to English… Common mistakes in all regional languages,” the third user commented. 

Earlier, High Commissioner of Singapore in India Simon Wong danced with folk artists at a G20 meeting in West Bengal’s Darjeeling.

“A wonderful evening at the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting. Moonlight tea picking was the highlight. HC Wong,” Singapore in India tweeted on Saturday.

Mr Wong also congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for launching the PSLV-C56. 

He noted that the rocket has placed seven satellites developed by the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), ST Engineering, Singapore’s universities and private industry into orbit. 

New Delhi:

 A 49-year-old assistant sanitary inspector was allegedly manhandled by AAP MLA Jai Bhagwan Upkar on Wednesday morning in northwest Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy area, police said, adding that a case has been filed in the matter.

No immediate reaction from the Bawana MLA Upkar was available.

A case under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) has been registered at Shahbad Dairy police station, a senior police official said.

The complaint was filed by Mukesh Kumar, who as MCD assistant sanitary inspector, ward number 28, Narela Zone supervised the sanitation workers of the ward.

On Wednesday around 10 am, he and sanitary inspector Nanhe Ram supervising the cleaning work done by the staff in Shahbad Dairy area in front of JE store, when the MLA manhandled him, Kumar said in his complaint.

Upkar came with some of his workers and complained to Kumar angrily that they do not clean his area and receive salaries despite doing no work, it said.

Kumar replied by saying they clean the area regularly, to which Upkar responded with abuses, the complaint said.

The MCD employee told the AAP leader that he was creating obstacles in government work and added that if cleanliness in his area was not up to the mark, they will clean it again, the complaint said.

Hearing this, the MLA got angry and he dragged Kumar by the collar towards the main market, grabbed him by the neck and started beating him, it said. When Nanhe Ram intervened, the MLA started misbehaving with him also, the complaint added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)