Shelly Oberoi, the newly-elected Delhi Mayor and Aam Aadmi Party member, criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday for their lack of respect for democracy. Oberoi stated that the BJP will now be afraid since the people of the national capital have given a mandate to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
Speaking to reporters, Oberoi said, “They did not respect the house and did not respect democracy again. This is extremely shameful. We are not afraid of cross-voting at all, people from Delhi have given us the mandate and shown faith in us. They (BJP) have lost elections, they’ll be afraid.”
Shelly Oberoi won the Delhi mayoral election on February 22, after three previous attempts due to the ruckus over voting rights being given to nominated members. She defeated BJP’s Rekha Gupta by 34 votes.
Oberoi had previously won the civic polls from ward no. 86 on December 7, where she defeated Deepali Kumari by 269 votes. The municipal elections in Delhi were held on December 4, with the Aam Aadmi Party winning 134 seats out of 250.
However, soon after becoming the Delhi mayor, Shelly Oberoi accused BJP councillors of trying to attack her during the Standing Committee elections of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
Opposition did not respect the house and the democracy – Shelly Oberoi
The allegations came amidst 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.
During the voting, BJP councillor Kamaljeet Sehrawat demanded that councillors should not be allowed to carry mobiles and pens while voting. Mayor Oberoi responded that they will not pressurize anyone and that it is up to the discretion of the councillors whether to take them or not.
However, after 47 councillors had cast their votes, the BJP alleged that some councillors were taking photographs of the ballots through their mobiles, which is a violation of secret ballot rules. Mayor Oberoi said that mobiles would not be allowed, but the BJP demanded that all the votes cast so far be rejected and that the elections be re-held.
This further led to an intensification of the ruckus between the two parties, after which the MCD session was adjourned for one hour.
In conclusion, the newly-elected Delhi Mayor, Shelly Oberoi, has slammed the BJP of lacking respect for democracy and stated that they will now be afraid since the people of Delhi have given the mandate to the Aam Aadmi Party. The incident during the Standing Committee elections of the MCD highlights the ongoing tensions between the two parties.
