MCDs to be reunified? Citing Centre’s letter, SEC delays poll date announcement

In a dramatic turn of events at a media conference in which the state election commission was expected to announce the date for municipal elections in Delhi, the poll body on Wednesday said that it has decided to defer the announcement of the schedule for the crucial elections, and cited a letter from the Centre which ostensibly mentioned a possible unification of the three MCDs.

The move was heavily criticised by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is attempting to wrest power in the civic bodies from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP, on its part, defended the decision as a “municipal reform”.

Another SEC official later indicated that a bill to unify the MCD, which was trifurcated 10 years ago, was likely to be tabled in the ongoing session of Parliament which will resume on March 14.

“The poll announcement has been postponed for some days because we have received a communication from the Centre, stating that it has plans to unify the three municipal corporations. We decided to postpone the announcement of the poll schedule. We will take legal opinion on the matter. The MCD elections have to be completed before May 18, so we still have time,” state election commissioner (SEC) SK Srivastava told reporters at the press conference.

The SEC news conference began 30 minutes later than it’s scheduled time of 5pm. The hall was packed with journalists waiting to note down the date for the elections, when Srivastava came out and announced: “We are prepared and ready for polls. We planned to announce election dates today for which I called the press conference. We got some communication from the Centre at 4.30pm which needs proper examination. So, I am not declaring the poll dates now for 5-7 days. No one has asked us to postpone the MCD elections.”

Srivastava did not share a copy of the communication from the Centre. An official said that the Union home ministry sent the communication to the Delhi lieutenant governor, who forwarded it to SEC office.

Union home ministry officials did not respond to queries seeking comment, but people familiar with the development said the matter of reunification of three civic bodies was “currently being examined”.

The LG office did not comment on the matter.

In a written statement issued to the media, the state election commission later said that it had neither deferred nor cancelled the elections. Elections to the three municipal corporations in Delhi are scheduled to be held in April.

“It was further informed that today the commission has received a communication from LG conveying GOI (Centre) intentions to bring a legislation in the ongoing session for the unification of the three MCDs. The commission is examining the said communication and hence has decided to announce election schedule later. The election process normally takes about 30 days and hence the commission has sufficient time to conduct the elections well before the expiry of the term of the corporations,” the communication issued by PK Goel, deputy secretary of the SEC, said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, one of the largest local bodies in the world, was trifurcated by the then Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi in 2012. Then, the Congress ruled both Delhi and the Centre, and Dikshit argued that the division will infuse administrative efficiency even as some senior leaders of her party were opposed to the move. The Congress that won the 2007 MCD elections, never returned to power again. The BJP has been ruling the three MCDs since 2012.

The SEC’s revelation of the purported move to the unify the three MCDs, and the deferment of the announcement of the election schedule, evoked a sharp response from the AAP, the main opposition in the three MCDs.

Delhi chief minister and AAP chief convener Arvind Kejriwal said the deferment was akin to the ‘BJP running away from the contest’. “People of Delhi are very angry. They are saying the BJP doesn’t dare hold elections and now, this will ensure deposits of BJP candidates are forfeited,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Kejriwal said an internal AAP survey had indicated it could win 250 out of 272 seats. “Now, we will get more than 260 seats,” he tweeted, nudging the state election commission to not come under pressure from the BJP.

BJP leaders who said they did not know the specifics of the Centre’s planned move, termed it “municipal reform”, and accused the state government of choking the corporations of funds.

In a press conference on Wednesday evening, the BJP’s New Delhi MP, Meenakshi Lekhi (who is also Union minister of state for external affairs), said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders did not “respect constitutional positions”, alluding to comments made by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia.

Local BJP leaders were of the view that the unification will resolve the current mess in civic bodies --- two of them, North and East Delhi corporations, are going through a crippling financial crunch and have faced repeated strikes by their staff over delays in payment of salaries. The three civic bodies have also consistently fared poorly on the Centre’s sanitation rankings as they have failed in finding a lasting solution to Delhi’s garbage problem.

A retired senior MHA official, who asked not to be named, said, “There was no need to trifurcate the MCD in the first place. If the idea of trifurcation of MCD was to make it efficient, it has definitely not been achieved. In fact, what has happened in last 10 years is that there is continuous blame game between political parties over bankruptcy of the three MCDs; employees have gone on strike more than two dozen times for non-payment of salaries, there is haphazard illegal construction all over the city and sewage system is almost non-existent while the Delhiites are suffering”.

However, former union home secretary GK Pillai feels that trifurcation of MCD was necessary and it has brought the corporations close to people.

“Smaller corporations are better for development for any city. I don’t see any major problems in having three MCDs because it gives a sense of bringing authorities closer to the people,” said Pillai, who was home secretary between 2009 and 2011.

Prof Tanvir Aeijaz, an associate professor of Political Science at Ramjas College, said the SEC was not obliged to follow communications from the central government. “The elections to the municipalities is constitutionally vested in SEC, wherein the SEC, as an autonomous constitutional body, has the powers to superintend, direct and control the conduct of local bodies elections. SEC, technically, is not obliged to follow the communications from the centre vis-a-vis elections of the municipalities, as the local government, particularly powers of municipal corporation, is a state subject.However, in the case of Delhi, due to multiplicity of authorities, the power to reorganise civic bodies rests with the centre. But in no circumstance, the centre can transgress into the powers of SEC, as it would be a violation of the (Constitution’s) federal principles.”