The Supreme Curt in the case Shelly Oberoi And Anr. v. Office of Lieutenant Governor of Delhi And Ors observed and has issue notice to the offices of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor and the Pro tem presiding officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) mayoral candidate Dr Shelly Oberoi and AAP for urgent completion of mayoral elections of MCD.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala was hearing the second appeal. In the present case, this being a second time a plea has been filed by Dr Shelly Oberoi concerning the mayoral polls. Further, she approached Supreme Court demanding timely conduct of the mayoral elections and later the petition was withdrawn on the ground that the elections were going to take place 06.02.2023.
Thus, on 06.02.2023, a ruckus erupted over the nominated members were being allowed to vote in the election to the post. The AAP does not want the aldermen to vote, otherwise the BJP wants it. It has also been stated by the MCD Presiding Officer Satya Sharma that the elections for mayor, the deputy mayor and the Standing Committee members will be held simultaneously. The counsel, Senior Advocate Dr AM Singhvi, appearing for the petitioner made the following submissions before the court: 1.
Though the court conducted the elections on 04.12.2022, in the said case the situation at present is that no election has been conducted for Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the members of the standing committee. 2. It has been stated under Article 243R of the Indian Constitution that the nominated members cannot be allowed to vote and the decision taken by the nominated member are allowed to vote in the election to the posts and the same is unconstitutional. 3. It has also been stated under Section 76 of DMC Act that the mayor and deputy mayor have to preside on all meetings. Therefore, the simultaneous holding of elections for three posts (mayor, deputy mayor and Standing Committee members) is being contrary to the DMC Act. The bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud stated while dictating the order that the said notice issued is returnable on 13.02.2023.
