Lok Sabha passes Bill to merge 3 MCs in Delhi

He also underplayed the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory in Punjab and said their candidates lost their deposits in states like Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Uttarakhand. “It was said we are afraid of elections, hence bringing this Bill. We do not get scared. We were not scared even when we had just two MPs. They used to taunt us, now they do not even have the status of having a leader of opposition,” Shah said, launching an attack on Congress. Shah referred to the Emergency and said it was the result of fear of losing polls. “Elections are won and lost… But I will tell you how people get scared of elections… Indiraji’s election was declared invalid, overnight, the PM who did not have the right to vote in the House, took away all democratic rights of the country and implemented Emergency, this is fear,” Shah said. “Leaders of all parties, lakhs of people were pushed behind bars. Editorials were decided from the Centre. On All India Radio, a famous singer was banned, even duet songs used to be aired in single voice,” he said. Commenting on AAP’s victory in Punjab, the Home Minister said, “In UP on 349 seats, deposits of AAP candidates were seized. In Uttarakhand, they lost their deposits on 68 of 70 seats, and in Goa, on 35 of 39 seats. They performed well in Punjab and never went to Manipur. Why should we be scared?” He also mentioned Congress’ loss in Uttar Pradesh and said, “Who should be scared?” “No worker of BJP needs to be scared. We have made a government in four states and we are confident we will win wherever elections are held,” he said. He further said that BJP is in power in a number of states, while at the Centre, it has support of NDA allies, and has no fears. Shah said BJP wants to fight and win polls everywhere on the basis of its ideology, programs, leadership’s popularity and performance of the government, and not by unleashing violence against rivals. As some MPs drew parallel between Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi and said delimitation could be used as an excuse to not hold polls, Shah said the process of delimitation in J&K is almost over and elections will be held soon. Earlier, moving the Bill for debate, Shah had accused the AAP government of Delhi of giving “step motherly treatment” to the Municipal Corporations. He had also urged MPs to “rise above party politics” and support the Bill. Congress leader Manish Tewari said the Lok Sabha did not have the legislative competence to pass the Bill. BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri attacked the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi and said the Corporations were not getting their dues. He also said that the trifurcation of the MCD was politically motivated. BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali meanwhile compared the action with abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and said, “you don’t want polls in MCD… Just like when you bifurcated J&K, home minister had promised he will hold election soon but delimitation is being used as an excuse to delay it”. NCP MP Supriya Sule meanwhile said that the Parliament should focus on issues of national importance and should not interfere in local bodies. She also said that the Bill was against the spirit of cooperative federalism. The Bill unifies the three Municipal Corporations in Delhi, and gives the center control by replacing the word ‘government’ with ‘central government’ in the Act, and also provides for a fresh delimitation exercise. The number of seats will be brought down to 250 from the present 272. It also provides for the appointment of a ‘Special Officer’ to head the corporation until new representatives are elected. “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Central Government may, if necessary, appoint a person to be called the Special Officer, to exercise the power and discharge the functions of the Corporation until the date on which the first meeting of the Corporation is held after the commencement of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022,” said the Bill. Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu on Wednesday said that AAP came to power in Punjab because of his party’s “infighting and mistakes” and alleged that Arvind Kejriwal’s party had misused Delhi’s funds for advertisements. (UNI)