Poll body defers announcement of MCD election dates, Kejriwal slams PM Modi

State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava, who was to announce the dates for the MCD polls at the press conference scheduled at 5 pm today, told reporters that he shall not be able to announce them as he received a communication from the Centre at around 4:30 pm.

New Delhi:In the MCD election meeting scheduled on Wednesday, the Delhi State Election Commission deferred announcing the schedule for municipal polls as directed by a communication received from the Centre in this regard. Questioning the postponement, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked whether the central government can "direct" any EC to delay or cancel elections.

State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava, who was to announce the dates for the MCD polls at the press conference scheduled at 5 pm today, told reporters that he shall not be able to announce them as he received a communication from the Centre at around 4:30 pm. He further clarified that it will take another five to seven days to announce the dates for the municipal elections. In an attempt to give clarification, he also said that the Central government perhaps desires 'reorganization of MCD'.

"Maybe, they could re-unify the three corporations, so we have to think over it, and then announce MCD poll dates. We will examine their advice. If the three corporations are unified, then we will have to decide accordingly. We are taking legal opinion on the issue," he clarified. There are a total of 104 wards each in the North and the South Delhi Municipal Corporations. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has 64 wards.

Registering a reaction against this move over Twitter, Delhi CM Kejriwal targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioning the freedom of conducting elections in the country. His tweet read, "Can central govt “direct” any EC to delay/cancel any elections? Under which provision? Are these “directions” binding on EC? Why is EC buckling under the pressure?"

Meanwhile, the Election Commission held a meeting a day before, wherein the members reportedly discussed the preparations for the elections as well as for the formation of teams on the implementation of the model code of conduct. The State Election Commission has issued guidelines related to the code of conduct for the Delhi Municipal Corporation elections 2022, which are to be implemented soon after the elections are announced. Here are the rules that are to be kept in mind under the model code of conduct which include 10 star campaigners from each party, no winning procession, along with permission for only 50 people for a street meeting and mandatory approval of returning officer for public event during campaign and few more stringent measures for a free and fair polls.