The Centre will have to make an amendment to the DMC Act to unify the three municipalities. The Delhi State Election Commission (SEC) has sought legal advice on if it can still hold elections for the three municipal corporations. It was scheduled to announce the election schedule Wednesday but deferred it following a communication from the Centre on the unification of the civic bodies.
The Centre will have to make an amendment to the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act to unify the three municipalities — South, North and East MCDs.
An official Thursday said the SEC had time to conduct the elections before the term of the House of the local bodies ends on May 18, but would need to seek legal opinion. New members have to be elected before this date.
“This is a completely unprecedented situation and we have little idea what to do. That’s why we are trying to figure out how to deal with the entire situation, and if we should conduct the polls. The election process will take about 30 days, so we have to hold the polls by April 18. But there is also no point in holding it if the bill for reunification is passed in the meantime since the elections will become infructuous then,” he said.
“We have approached legal experts and are taking about 4-5 days to decide on the course to pursue. We were anyway announcing a little bit ahead of time, so we have these extra days to take legal opinion now…,” he said.
On Wednesday, State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava had told The Indian Express the elections would not be postponed: “The Centre raised a few issues that are yet to be legally examined by us, and we cannot announce MCD election dates as of now. We will take some more days. We have to conduct the elections before May 18… We are not postponing elections. If at all unification of municipal corporations takes place before May 18, then we have to examine the situation. That’s why we need time as of now to seek legal opinion.”
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