Delhi civic body polls to be held today after L-G overturns Mayor's decision in a dramatic turn

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While Mayor Shelly Oberoi adjourned the polls until October 5, V K Saxena overturned her decision, scheduling the polls for today

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The elections to the sixth seat of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be held on Friday afternoon. The dramatic turn comes as Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Thursday evening overturned Mayor Shelly Oberoi's decision to adjourn the polls until October 5.

The elections were initially scheduled to be held on Thursday at 2 pm. But, it was adjourned, first briefly and then to October 5, after Oberoi raised the issue over the frisking of councillors. She called it "undemocratic and insulting" and said it was the first time such a thing was happening.

Oberoi adjourned the house for 15 minutes and ordered the MCD commissioner to ensure the entry of councillors without any checking. "This will be remembered in history. The way officers were pressurised and they did not comply with my orders. I am adjourning the House till October 5, 2 pm," she said later.

However, the BJP councillors protested over the decision and urged the MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar to hold the elections as per the law and directions of the Supreme Court.

BJP party president Virendra Sachdeva said in a statement earlier in the day. "The anti-incumbency against Arvind Kejriwal is at its peak and the AAP is running away from the election as he is scared his own councillors are going to desert him," Sachdeva charged, and threatened to file a contempt petition against the mayor in the court on Friday.

However, in a late-night order, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Thursday asked the municipal commissioner to conduct the election on Friday. Following this, Kumar issued an order late at night, saying the lieutenant governor had directed to hold the election to the standing committee member at 1 pm on Friday.

The municipal commissioner's order said that the L-G also sought a report about the election's conduct by 10:00 pm on September 26. He added that the L-G directed that if the Mayor is not available or refuses to preside over the meeting, the Dy Mayor be requested to do the same.

"If both are unwilling or unavailable, the senior most member in order of seniority may be requested to discharge the function," the order further said. Councillor Mukesh Goel is the senior-most member of the house.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Jitender Yadav was appointed as a presiding officer of the MCD House meeting to conduct polls for the committee's sixth seat that fell vacant after BJP leader Kamaljeet Sehrawat was elected as the West Delhi MP.