22-05-2025
AAP and BJP spar over mayor holding 2 posts
New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Aam Aadmi Party councillor Ankush Narang questioned mayor Raja Iqbal Singh over holding dual positions—as mayor and standing committee member from the City-Sadar Paharganj zone.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Claiming that holding both the positions violates protocol and may affect the functioning of the corporation, the AAP councillor demanded that the mayor should step down from one of the roles.
With elections for the chairpersons of 12 zonal committees and two standing committee members scheduled for June 2, the AAP councillor also called for a fresh election for the standing committee seat from the City-SP zone to be held without delay.
Addressing a press conference, Narang said, "This is perhaps the first time in history that a mayor is refusing to resign from a committee that is supposed to report to him. In what capacity will Raja Iqbal now sit in meetings of a committee that is answerable to the mayor himself?"
"He became the mayor on April 25, but he continues to remain a standing committee member from the Civil Lines zone," he added.
functionaries, however, argued that nowhere in the Delhi Municipal Council Act is it written that a mayor cannot hold the post of standing committee member.
A BJP functionary said, "This was practised in the past also. The standing committee is an important committee which takes decisions on crucial issues. Considering the formation of this committee has been pending for two and a half years due to the lack of interest shown by AAP, our priority right now is to ensure the committee is formed and starts its function as soon as possible."
He added: "The elections were put on hold several times in the past, and we don't want things to be delayed further this time again and don't want to give up for their tactics.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Several projects above Rs 5 crore are pending for approval as the high-powered standing committee is not formed."
BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor alleged that AAP delayed the mayor elections for several months. "AAP must explain why the election for a Scheduled Caste mayor — which was to be held in April 2024 — was postponed until Nov 2024, thereby reducing the SC mayor's term to just five months," he said.
Meanwhile, MCD issued a notification on May 22 regarding ordinary meeting of the house for next month to be held on June 3 in which election of one member of standing committee will also be held.
