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{{Short description|Upcoming MCD elections in Delhi}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 2022 Delhi Municipal Corporation election
| party2 = Aam Aadmi Party
| ongoing = yes
| election_date = By April 2022
| previous_election = 2017 Delhi Municipal Corporation election
| previous_year = 2017
| country = India
| leader1 = [[Adesh Kumar Gupta]]
| party1 = Bharatiya Janata Party
| type = Legislative
| leader2 = [[Arvind Kejriwal]]
| party3 = Indian National Congress
| leader3 = [[Anil Chaudhary (politician)|Anil Chaudhary]]
| last_election1 = 36.08%, 181 seats{{efn|64 seats in NDMC, 70 seats in SDMC and 47 seats in EDMC}}
| last_election2 = 26.23%, 49 seats{{efn|21 seats in NDMC, 16 seats in SDMC and 12 seats in SDMC}}
| last_election3 = 21.09%, 31 seats{{efn|16 seats in NDMC, 12 seats in SDMC, 3 seats in EDMC}}
| seats_for_election = All 104 seats in the [[North Delhi Municipal Corporation|NDMC]] All 104 seats in the [[South Delhi Municipal Corporation|SDMC]] All 64 seats in the [[East Delhi Municipal Corporation|EDMC]]
| majority_seats = 137
| title = MCD majority
| before_party =
| before_election = NDMC - [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] SDMC - [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] EDMC - [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]]
| leader_since1 = 2020
| leader_since2 = 2012
| leader_since3 = 2020
| image1 = [[File:Adesh Kumar Gupta.jpg|150px]]
| image2 = [[File:Arvind Kejriwal September 02, 2017 crop.jpg|150px]]
| image3 = [[File:Circle-icons-profile.svg|100px]]
| posttitle = MCD majority after election
| after_election = TBD
| alliance1 = National Democratic Alliance
| alliance2 = -
| alliance3 = United Progressive Alliance
}}

'''Municipal elections''' in [[Delhi]] was planned to be held in April 2022 to elect 104 councillors of [[North Delhi Municipal Corporation]], 104 councillors of [[South Delhi Municipal Corporation]] and 64 councillors of [[East Delhi Municipal Corporation]].

In March 2022, the state Election Commission indefinitely deferred the municipal elections that were scheduled to be held in April 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 March 2022 |title=Poll body defers announcement of MCD election dates, CM Kejriwal questions move |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-news-live-covid-cases-deaths-weather-news-traffic-updates-7807936/ |access-date=23 March 2022 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref> On 22 March, the [[Government of India|Union Government]] approved a bill to merge the 3 municipal corporations back to a single body.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=22 March 2022 |title=Union Cabinet clears Bill to merge three municipal corporations of Delhi |url=https://www.livemint.com/news/india/union-cabinet-clears-bill-to-merge-three-municipal-corporations-of-delhi-11647941278353.html |access-date=23 March 2022 |website=mint |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Arvind Kejriwal 23 March 2022">{{cite news |title="AAP Will Leave Politics If...": Arvind Kejriwal Goes All-In Against BJP |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/aap-will-leave-politics-if-arvind-kejriwal-goes-all-in-against-bjp-in-delhi-2838134 |access-date=23 March 2022 |work=NDTV.com |date=23 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=We will leave politics if BJP gets Delhi Municipal Corporation polls held timely and wins it: Kejriwal |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/delhi/we-will-leave-politics-if-bjp-gets-delhi-municipal-corporation-polls-held-timely-and-wins-it-kejriwal-380034 |access-date=23 March 2022 |work=Tribuneindia News Service |language=en}}</ref> The MCD was [[Municipal_Corporation_of_Delhi#Trifurcation|trifurcated in 2012]].

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of using the unification as an excuse to postpone the elections. Aam Aadmi Party moved the [[Supreme Court of India]] and sought that directions be given to the State election Commission to conduct a fair and speedy election without interference from the Union government.

A petition was filed in the Delhi High Court by the Aam Aadmi Party MLA [[Saurabh Bhardwaj]], in which he asked the High Court to direct the State Election Commission of Delhi to conduct MCD elections with Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) that were compatible with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

== Background ==
The tenure of [[North Delhi Municipal Corporation|NDMC]], [[South Delhi Municipal Corporation|SDMC]] and [[East Delhi Municipal Corporation|EDMC]] is scheduled to end on 18 May 2022.<ref name="indianexpress 23 March 2022">{{Cite web |date=23 March 2022 |title=SEC likely to decide on Delhi civic body polls in second week of April: Sources |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/sec-likely-to-decide-on-delhi-civic-body-polls-in-second-week-of-april-sources-7832072/ |access-date=23 March 2022 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref> The [[2017 Delhi Municipal Corporation election|previous municipal elections]] were held in April 2017 to elect the councillors of the 3 municipal corporations.

==Events==
The State Election Commission in Delhi had been preparing for the Delhi Municipal Elections had issued multiple notices, notifications and orders that had indicated that the election was planned to be conducted in April 2022.<ref name="AAP SC 17 March 2022">{{cite news |date=17 March 2022 |title=AAP Moves Supreme Court Over Deferral Of Delhi Civic Elections |work=NDTV.com |url=https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/aap-moves-supreme-court-over-deferral-of-delhi-civic-elections-2828603 |access-date=23 March 2022}}</ref>

On March 9, 2022, the State Election Commission announced a press conference at 5 pm to declare the schedule of the Municipal elections to be conducted in April. After the announcement, the commission received an unofficial communication from the Lt. Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal that talked about plans of the union government to merge the three municipal bodies.<ref name="AAP SC 17 March 2022" /> No formal communication had been issued regarding the plans for merger nor any such agenda had been declared in the ongoing budget session of the parliament of India. After the communication by Baijal, the press conference to announce the election schedule was postponed indefinitely and the elections were deferred.<ref name="AAP SC 17 March 2022" />

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of using the unification as an excuse to postpone the elections. He stated, "Can they cancel civic polls citing this reason? If today they are giving such reasons to stop a small election, tomorrow they will delay state and national elections too."<ref name="Express 24 March 2022">{{cite news |title=Kejriwal targets BJP: If polls deferred in this manner, there will be no point of democracy |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/we-will-leave-politics-if-bjp-gets-mcd-polls-held-timely-and-wins-it-arvind-kejriwal-7832685/ |access-date=24 March 2022 |work=The Indian Express |date=24 March 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
===Lawsuit to conduct the election===
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) moved the Supreme Court and sought that directions be given to the State election Commission to conduct a fair and speedy election without interference from the Union government. The plea was filed by AAP leaders Ankush Narang and Manoj Kumar Tyagi. The plea asked that the election be conducted according to the planned schedule of the Election commission before the term of the Municipal corporations expire in May.<ref name="AAP SC 17 March 2022" />

The plea stated, "The elections have been pushed in the eleventh hour solely on an informal intimation to the State Election Commission. The State Election Commission has been set up as an independent constitutional authority to insulate it from political caprices and whims so that it can conduct free, fair and timely elections. Such arbitrary and sudden change in an election schedule solely on the say of the government is a clear violation of the fundamental democratic tenet of impartial conduct of elections". The plea called the incident, "brazen influence of the Government of India over the State Election Commission and its flagrant meddling with the conduct of Municipal Elections". The plea accused the Union government of infringing upon the independence of the election commission by being the only reason to delay the election.<ref name="AAP SC 17 March 2022" />

AAP called the indefinite deferral completely arbitrary and asked the court if elections with prepared schedule could be deferred with such unofficial communications "at the whim of the Central government".<ref name="AAP SC 17 March 2022" />
====State Election Commission response====
On 23 March, ''[[Indian Express]]'' cited unnamed sources and reported that the election commission had approached lawyers to advice it if the elections could take place amid the Union government's intention to unify the corporations. According to the report, the lawyers had adviced the commission to wait until the ongoing parliament session ended. Accordingly the commission was reported to make a decision on the election in the second week of April. The report also mentioned that the reorganization of wards in Delhi may be possible and this may lead to a delay in the elections.<ref name="indianexpress 23 March 2022" />

=== Lawsuit demanding use of voting machine with paper trail ===
In March 2022, Aam Aadmi Party asked the authorities conducting elections to use the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) that were compatible with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). The State Election Commission Delhi responded saying it had decided to hold the 2022 MCD Elections with second generation M-2 EVMs without VVPAT.<ref name="VVPAT Hindu 11 March 2022">{{cite news |title=Why EVMs with VVPAT can't be used in upcoming MCD polls, HC asks State EC |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/why-evms-with-vvpat-cant-be-used-in-upcoming-mcd-polls-hc-asks-state-ec/article65214326.ece |access-date=9 April 2022 |work=The Hindu |date=11 March 2022 |language=en-IN}}</ref>

A petition was filed in the Delhi High Court by the Aam Aadmi Party MLA [[Saurabh Bhardwaj]], in which he asked the HC to direct the State Election Commission of Delhi to conduct MCD elections with Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) that were compatible with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and not without them. His lawyers said that it was almost impossible to check the accuracy of the EVM and tampering could not be ruled out when the EVMs without VVPAT machines were used.<ref name="VVPAT Hindu 11 March 2022" />

In the case ''Subramanian Swamy vs Election Commission of India, (2013)'', the [[Supreme Court of India]] had issued directions that recognized the use of a system of paper trail in the EVMs was an important requirement for a free and fair elections. The petition called the use of older second generation, M-2 EVMs by the state election commission as a contravention of the Supreme court direction, "manifestly wrong" and a "colourable exercise of power". AAP petitioned that the decision raised "genuine apprehension about the sanctity of the entire electoral process".<ref name="VVPAT Hindu 11 March 2022" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sathasivam |first1=P. |title=Dr. Subramanian Swamy vs Election Commission Of India on 8 October, 2013 |url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/113840870/ |access-date=9 April 2022}}</ref>

The petition noted, "There is no Assembly Election slated after 7th March 2022 anywhere in the country. As such there is no hassle for them to loan out these new generation EVMs, compatible to VVPAT, to the SEC Delhi for conducting the MCD Elections 2022"<ref name="MCD livelaw 8 April 2022">{{cite news |last1=Thapliyal |first1=Nupur |title=Must Maintain Technological Integrity Of EVMs & VVPATs, Can’t Share With State Election Commissions: ECI Opposes AAP’s Plea In Delhi HC |url=https://livelaw.in/news-updates/delhi-high-court-aap-vvpat-integrity-municipal-elections-state-election-commissions-local-polls-196114 |access-date=9 April 2022 |work=livelaw.in |date=8 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

State Election Commission (SEC) stated that it was dependent on the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the supply of EVMs. ECI had given M2 EVMs without VVPAT to SEC. SEC said in the court that it had no objections in using EVM with VVPAT if the ECI provided it.<ref name="VVPAT BSI 7 April 2022">{{cite news |title=MCD Polls: Which EVM units VVPAT compatible, High Court asks Delhi EC |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/elections/mcd-polls-which-evm-units-vvpat-compatible-high-court-asks-delhi-ec-122040701093_1.html |access-date=9 April 2022 |work=Business Standard India |agency=Press Trust of India |date=7 April 2022}}</ref>

The Election Commission of India opposed the plea in the court and stated that it could not provide the EVM with VVPAT to the State Election commission as it used them for conducting election and could not allow use by agencies that it did not supervise.<ref name="MCD livelaw 8 April 2022" />

AAP said in court that EVMs procured by the SEC are not compatible with VVPAT and it asked for the disclosure of the number of VVPAT compatible machines available in India. HC asked the SEC to inform the court which of the procured EVMs were compatible with VVPAT. Ten day time was given to respond and the next hearing was scheduled for 29 April.<ref name="VVPAT BSI 7 April 2022" />

==Schedule==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Poll Event
! Schedule
! Day
|-
| Issue of notification of election
| '''TBD'''
| '''TBD'''
|-
| Last Date for filing nomination
| '''TBD'''
| '''TBD'''
|-
| Scrutiny of Nominations
| '''TBD'''
| '''TBD'''
|-
| Withdrawal of Candidature
| '''TBD'''
| '''TBD'''
|-
| Date of Poll
| '''TBD'''
| '''TBD'''
|-
| Date of Counting
| '''TBD'''
| '''TBD'''
|-
| Date of Completion
| '''TBD'''
| '''TBD'''
|}

==Parties and alliances==

=== {{legend2|{{party color|National Democratic Alliance (India)}}|[[National Democratic Alliance (India)|National Democratic Alliance]]}} ===

{| class="wikitable" " width="50%"
|+
!No.
!Party
!Flag
!Symbol
!Leader
!Photo
!Seats Contested
|-
|! style="text-align:center; background:{{party color|Bharatiya Janata Party}};color:white"|'''1.'''
| [[Bharatiya Janata Party]]
| [[File:BJP flag.svg|50px]]
| [[File:BJP election symbol.png|50px]]
| [[Adesh Kumar Gupta]]
| [[File:Adesh Kumar Gupta.jpg|50px]]
| TBD
|-
|}

=== {{legend2|{{party color|Aam Aadmi Party}}|[[Aam Aadmi Party]]}} ===

{| class="wikitable" " width="50%"
|+
!No.
!Party
!Flag
!Symbol
!Leader
!Photo
!Seats Contested
|-
|! style="text-align:center; background:{{party color|Aam Aadmi Party}};color:white"|'''1.'''
| [[Aam Aadmi Party]]
| [[File:Aam Aadmi Party logo (English).svg|50px]]
| [[File:AAP Symbol.png|50px]]
| [[Arvind Kejriwal]]
| [[File:Arvind Kejriwal June 15, 2015 crop.jpg|50px]]
|TBD
|-
|}

=== {{legend2|{{party color|United Progressive Alliance}}|[[United Progressive Alliance]]}} ===

{| class="wikitable" " width="50%"
|+
!No.
!Party
!Flag
!Symbol
!Leader
!Photo
!Seats Contested
|-
|! style="text-align:center; background:{{party color|Indian National Congress}};color:white"|'''1.'''
| [[Indian National Congress]]
| [[File:INC Flag Official.jpg|50px]]
| [[File:Hand INC.svg|60px]]
| [[Anil Chaudhary (politician)|Anil Chaudhary]]
|[[File:Circle-icons-profile.svg|50x50px]]
|TBD
|-
|}

===Others===

{| class="wikitable" " width="50%"
|+
!No.
!Party
!Flag
!Symbol
!Leader
!Photo
!Seats Contested
|-
|! style="text-align:center; background:{{party color|All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen}};color:white"|'''1.'''
| [[All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2022-01-17|title=Run up to MCD polls slated for April: AIMIM to contest 70 seats, BSP to fight most wards|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-mcd-polls-aimim-to-contest-70-seats-7726799/|access-date=2022-02-01|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref>
| [[File:All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen logo.svg|50px]]
| [[File:Indian Election Symbol Kite.svg|50px]]
| Kaleemul Hafeez
| [[File:Circle-icons-profile.svg|50x50px]]
|TBD
|-
|! style="text-align:center; background:{{party color|Bahujan Samaj Party}};color:white"|'''2.'''
| [[Bahujan Samaj Party]]<ref name=":0" />
| [[File:Elephant Bahujan Samaj Party.svg|50px]]
| [[File:Indian Election Symbol Elephant.png|50px]]
| C P Singh
| [[File:Circle-icons-profile.svg|50x50px]]
|TBD
|-
|}

== Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Delhi elections}}
{{Authority control}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=Local elections in Delhi, 2022 elections in India, Municipal corporations in Delhi
|description=
}}

[[Category:Municipal corporation elections in India|Delhi]]
[[Category:Local elections in Delhi]]
[[Category:2022 elections in India]]
[[Category:Municipal corporations in Delhi]]

2022 Delhi Municipal Corporation election - Revision history

MetaBOT at 04:27, 9 July 2023