DSEC announces dates for by-elections of 5 municipal wards; 1-hour window for COVID-infected voters

NEW DELHI:  By-elections in five municipal wards in the national capital will take place on February 28. The Delhi State Election Commission (DSEC) on Wednesday announced dates for the election process. Results will be declared on March 3.

Poll timings for general voters will be from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. In the last hour of the polling till 5:30 pm, Covid-19 patients will be permitted to exercise their rights following protocols announced by the Centre. 
“Covid-19 patients who are quarantined will be allowed to cast their votes in the last hour at their respective polling stations, under the supervision of health authorities, strictly following Covid-related preventive measures.

Para-medical staff shall coordinate this in their allocated polling stations,” says guidelines for the polls released by the DSEC. The last date of filing nominations is February 8 and candidates can withdraw nominations by February 13.  Notification for the by-polls in two wards of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North DMC) — Rohini C and Shalimar Bagh North — and the Trilokpuri, Kalyanpuri and Chauhan Bangar of East Delhi Municipal Corporation will be issued on February 1.

Four municipal wards had fallen vacant after councillors got elected to the Delhi Assembly in the 2020 elections. All of them were from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Shalimar Bagh North is vacant since the death of Renu Jaju, who had won the seat on a BJP ticket. Soon after the announcement was made, Delhi BJP exuded confidence of victory in all the seats. “People of Delhi understand that during the last six years, the AAP government which works with political bias, has financially crippled the three Municipal Corporations and badly affected civic services.

Due to this dirty politics of AAP, people of Delhi have made up their mind to defeat their candidates in the municipal by-elections and also in the 2022 municipal elections,” said Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor. However, senior AAP leader and in-charge of three municipal bodies, Durgesh Pathak said the by-elections would be fought on two issues — poor sanitary condition and corruption in civic bodies. “The way BJP in the Municipal Corporations has ruined the lives of people, has prompted them to uproot BJP from the Corporations. People of Delhi will take revenge for the shame they have to bear because of garbage all around them,” he said.