BJP Councilor Withdraws From Supreme Court Contempt Plea Against MCD Mayor's Decision To Postpone Standing Committee Elections

BJP councilor Raja Iqbal Singh withdrew from the Supreme Court today a contempt petition filed by him against Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Shelly Oberoi, raising allegations about delay in the conduct of elections to fill vacancy in the MCD Standing Committee.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan dismissed the contempt petition as withdrawn, with liberty to approach the appropriate forum.

This was after Senior Advocate Sonia Mathur (on behalf of the petitioner) conceded to the suggestion that appropriate forum/Delhi High Court may be moved against the Mayor's communication/decision. The senior counsel's stance was in the backdrop of the Standing Committee elections having already been held on September 27.

For context, the vacancy of the 6th member arose due to the election of BJP's Kamaljeet Sehrawat to the Lok Sabha.

Singh had alleged that the MCD Mayor postponed the election to October 5 and thereby violated the Court's direction passed on August 5 to fill the vacancy within a month.

Statedly, the Mayor postponed the elections following allegations of irregularities by councilors. However, Delhi LG VK Saxena overruled this decision and directed that the elections be held on September 27. He directed the Municipal Commissioner, an IAS officer, to convene the corporation meeting in which the elections were to take place.

The election was held on September 27 and won by the BJP. Challenging the election, Mayor Shelly Oberoi has approached the Court, which case is pending. It may be mentioned that the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress boycotted the election. As per AAP, the process was contrary to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act.

The contempt petition was filed through Advocate-on-Record Shoumendu Mukherji.

Case Title: RAJA IQBAL SINGH Versus SHELLY OBEROI AND ANR., Diary No. 44879/2024