Ruckus forces adjournment of MCD session, Delhi Mayor says BJP Councillors "tried to attack" her

Hours after being elected as the Delhi mayor, Shelly Oberoi on Wednesday accused BJP councillors of trying to attack her during the Standing Committee elections of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Oberoi's allegations came amid a high-level drama around midnight, when a ruckus broke out between BJP and AAP members inside the MCD house over the election of the member of the standing committee.

Taking on Twitter, Shelly Oberoi said, "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."

Reacting to Oberoi's tweet, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "This is absolutely shocking and unacceptable!"

Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia also hit out at BJP over the alleged incident saying, "After losing the Mayor and Deputy elections, BJP has now resorted to hooliganism in the standing committee elections. They have stopped the election of committee members for many hours and now the BJP members have attacked the newly appointed mayor."

Amid the voting, BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat demanded that the councillors should not be allowed to carry mobile and pen at the time of voting. But, mayor Shelly Oberoi said that we will not pressurize anyone, it will be a matter of dignity, it is up to the discretion whether to take it or not.

However, after 47 councillors had cast their vote, BJP alleged that some councillors are taking photographs of the ballots through their mobile, which is a violation of secret ballot. Amid uproar, Mayor Oberoi said that the mobiles won't be allowed, but BJP demanded all the votes cast so far to be rejected and elections to be re-held.

This further led to an intensification of the ruckus between the two party members, after which the MCD session was adjourned for one hour.

Earlier in the day, Shelly Oberoi was elected as the new mayor of Delhi after having secured 150 votes on Wednesday.

"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.

Terming it a "huge responsibility", the newly elected mayor expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. "Today, I got an opportunity to serve the people of Delhi".

"Goondagardi (Hooliganism) has been defeated," Shelly Oberoi took potshots at the ruling BJP.

"Truth has prevailed. Today, it has been proven that the people of Delhi have won. It is not the victory of AAP. It is a victory of democracy. It is a victory of the people of Delhi," Oberoi said.

The voting began at 11.30 am after the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi Mayor election be conducted. The court also ruled that the aldermen (nominated councillors) would have no right to vote.

Later in the day, AAP candidate Aaley Mohammad Iqbal was also elected as the new deputy mayor of Delhi.

He was able to defeat BJP candidate Kamal Bagri, by bagging 147 votes as compared to 116 of Bagri.

The last three attempts to elect the Mayor failed due to the political bickering between the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party. They met for the first time on January 6, second on January 24 and last on February 6.

The municipal elections in Delhi were held on December 4 and the results were announced on December 7. Aam Aadmi Party won 134 seats out of 250.

( With inputs from ANI )