Delhi election commission to seek legal advice on civic polls

The Delhi State Election Commission has sought the advice of legal experts on if it can still hold polls for the three municipal corporations here following a communication from the Centre for their unification.

New Delhi: The Delhi State Election Commission has sought the advice of legal experts on if it can still hold polls for the three municipal corporations here following a communication from the Centre for their unification. The commission after receiving the communication on Wednesday deferred the announcement of poll dates for the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The Centre will have to make an amendment to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act to unify the three municipalities. Officials on Thursday said the panel's role is to conduct civic elections in a fair manner before the term of the House of the local bodies ends. The new members have to be elected before May 18, they said. "But due to emergence of some unprecedented circumstances the commission now wants to understand how to go about it (the polls) and whether it should conduct the civic polls or not at a time when the Centre will be unifying the three municipalities. So we have approached top legal experts on such issues for advice and will act accordingly," a source told PTI.

Sources said that a detailed note has been prepared on Wednesday's development and it will be submitted to legal experts for their advice. If the commission decides to go ahead with the polls without taking legal opinion on the issue then there are chances that the election exercise may be futile, they said. According to Article 490 of the DMC Act, if the corporations are dissolved then the elections have to be conducted within a period of six months and for that period the Centre may appoint an authority for functioning of civic bodies during the period of dissolution.

Sources also said that to unify the three local bodies in Delhi, the central government will have to pass bill in Parliament to make the amendment to the DMC Act 1957. "The Centre's intentions is clear. It will re-unify the municipalities in Delhi. So, the commission will have to think over it and act accordingly in connection with the polls," an official said. All three corporations in the city are currently ruled by the BJP, which has been controlling the civic bodies since the trifurcation of the erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in 2012.

The commission had on Wednesday said the Central plans to bring a bill in the Budget session of Parliament to unify the three municipal corporations of Delhi and since the poll panel is examining the communication from Lt Governor Anil Baijal, it has decided to defer the announcement of election schedule. "The Commission has received a communication from Lt Governor conveying Government of India's intention to bring legislation in the on-going session (of Parliament) for unification of the three municipal corporations.

The Commission is examining the said communication and hence has decided to announce the election schedule later," the Delhi State Election Commission had said in a statement. The panel in its statement had also mentioned that it has sufficient time to conduct civic elections before the expiry of the term on May 18 as the election process normally takes only about 30 days.

PTI