AAP councillors seek more time to file nominations in Delhi ward panel polls

Mayor Shelly Oberoi on Thursday wrote to Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner Ashwini Kumar, asking him to extend the deadline for filing nominations for the upcoming zonal wards committee elections.
The development comes a day after MCD announced that the elections for its 12 zonal ward committees will be held on September 4, with prospective candidates given till August 30 to file their nominations.
“None of the previous wards elections such a short period of one day between election notice and nomination date has even been fixed. Commissioner is directed to extend the last date for filing nominations thereby granting reasonable time as per past practices and election commission guidelines. To undertake the above-mentioned exercise in shortest possible time to ensure that elections are meaningful and in the true letter and spirit of democracy,” Oberoi said in her letter.
The mayor’s note to the commissioner was in response to several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor writing to him, requesting him to extend the last date for nominations to grant reasonable time to conclude the poll process.
HT has seen copies of these letters. Neither the AAP nor the MCD commented on the letters.
Responding to the development, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that the AAP will not allow the elections to take place. The elections to the zonal ward committees have been pending since January 2023.
“Mayor has written to commissioner seeking postponement of ward committee elections. The undemocratic face of AAP stands exposed,” Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said.
Ex-AAP councillor switches back from BJP
Four days after he switched parties and joined the BJP, ward 28 councillor Ram Chander returned to the AAP fold, alleging that he was “misled”.
Chander, a former AAP legislator, represents the Shahbad Dairy area in the Narela zone. He rejoined the AAP after meeting senior party leaders such as Manish Sisodia.
“I had taken a wrong decision but I have returned to my family again. Last night, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal spoke to me in my dream and reprimanded me, saying that Ram Chander get up and go and meet Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Sandeep (Pathak) and all the leaders and work with them. So, I will never stay away from the Aam Aadmi Party because of the chief minister’s words. I am taking an oath today that the way I was misled by some people I will never come under their influence in future,” Chander said after meeting Sisodia.
Separately, Sisodia in a post on X said, “I met old AAP colleague and former Bawana Vidhan Sabha MLA Ram Chander. Today he has returned to his Aam Aadmi family.”
Chander’s return to the AAP is part of attempts being made by both the AAP and the BJP to secure the support of the most number of councillors ahead of the zonal ward committee elections, which will also decide the fate of the standing committee.
Based on the current distribution of members, the BJP still retains an advantage in seven zones while the AAP has an upper hand in five zones. To be sure, anti-defection laws do not apply in these elections and polling is carried out through secret ballot.