Setback For AAP As Supreme Court Favours LG Saxena Over Appointment Of BJP Members To Delhi Municipal Corporation

On Monday (5 August), the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) to nominate 10 aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without consulting the Council of Ministers.

The ruling was delivered by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala on a petition from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

The AAP-led Delhi government contested the appointments made by LG V K Saxena. The court had previously reserved its judgment on this matter on 17 May 2023.

This verdict is anticipated to end the long-standing deadlock regarding the formation of the MCD’s Standing Committee and will significantly impact the civic body's operations in the near future.

In January of the previous year, Saxena appointed 10 aldermen to the MCD without the Council of Ministers' advice, sparking a major controversy between Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's party and the BJP, which governs at the central level.

All the nominated members were from the BJP, leading AAP leaders to accuse the BJP of attempting to control the MCD without having a majority.

The L-G made these appointments under the authority of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, which empowers the administrator to appoint individuals with special knowledge or experience in municipal administration to aid the House in making important decisions.

These appointments followed the AAP's victory over the BJP in the December 2022 civic polls, where AAP won 134 seats compared to the BJP's 104 in the 250-member House.