In a resolute display of dissent, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday launched a protest at the Civic Center against the cancellation of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) mayoral election.

AAP councilors gathered at the Civic centre here and staged a protest shouting slogans against the BJP in front of Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s statue, voicing their opposition to the ruling dispensation at the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor.

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The AAP alleged that the election was revoked as the BJP did not want a representative of the Dalits to become a mayor.

The party vowed to take this serious issue to the judiciary for resolution.

Speaking on the cancellation of the mayoral polls, senior AAP leader and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak raised questions on the intention of the BJP and the LG, saying, “The LG should have taken the recommendation from the CM, who has stopped him from taking the recommendation. The CM could have appointed a minister and would have given the recommendation to the LG. But LG’s intentions were different. The LG did not send the file of the mayoral election to the minister.”

Pathak claimed that “the file through the secretary of the Urban Development Department and the chief secretary was sent directly to the LG, but he did not even try to get the minister’s recommendation on the file”.

Speculating on what could have happened if the BJP and the LG had made a complete plan not to conduct the mayoral election, the AAP leader said the cancellation has completely exposed the BJP.

The party further informed that the BJP councilors danced in jubilation after the elections did not take place and shared a video of the same on its social media handle on platform X.

The AAP further said that the elections to mayor and deputy mayor posts were to be held, and this time the term of mayor was reserved for a Dalit community.

Speaking on the issue, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi told a press conference that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had given permission for the mayoral poll. However, on Thursday evening, it gave a note on a file regarding the presiding officer that he did not have any power without CM Arvind Kejriwal’s consultation to appoint the presiding officer.

She alleged that the file regarding the presiding officer for the election directly reached LG, bypassing the elected government, as it was also not sent to the urban development minister.