Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, March 11: Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister, described the postponement of the announcement of the dates for the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) elections as a threat to the country’s democracy, alleging that this is the first time the Centre has written to a State Election Commission to postpone polls.
He claimed that the polls were postponed shortly after the Centre wrote to the EC, requesting that the polls be postponed because the government wanted to merge the three municipal corporations, North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, and East Delhi Municipal Corporation.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party has been at the Centre for 7-8 years now. If they had to combine the three bodies, why didn’t they do it in all these years? Why write to the EC just one hour before the scheduled announcement of the dates for the MCD polls,” he asked.
“Date for MCD polls was to be announced at 5 pm on March 9 but the same day an hour ago, Centre wrote to State EC to combine all 3 civic bodies into one, & that polls should be delayed. EC agreed to do so…Not okay if polls are cancelled, weakens EC role,” he added.
Main motive wasn't the unification of all 3 MCDs. Had they wanted, they would've done it in last 7 yrs. Motive was to postpone polls…I appeal to the PM with folded hands that if we force EC to cancel elections, it weakens it & the country. We've to protect the nation: Delhi CM pic.twitter.com/gyytVTvWZl
— ANI (@ANI) March 11, 2022