The AAP government on Monday told the Delhi high court that the Delhi Election Commission has to take a final decision on holding byelections in 13 municipal wards of the national capital.
The AAP government informed a bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath that manpower and finance-related issues to conduct the elections are to be finalised by the State Election Commission in consultation with the Delhi government.
The AAP government, in it affidavit, said, “The Delhi government is in process of evaluating the request of the State EC for release of funds and the request for manpower and a response shall be made available to the State EC, which is the primary authority responsible for the conduct of the municipal bodies election.”
“Thus, the Delhi government is in process of taking up these issues with the State EC and shall ensure that all logistical support as may be practical shall be extended to the State EC for the conduct of the election to fill up the vacancies in the councillorship.”
The AAP government’s response came after the court’s query on being informed by the State EC that it was keen to conduct the byelections immediately but depended on external sources for manpower, materials and funds.
The commission had sou-ght direction to provide re-quired funds and resources to conduct byelections to vacant seats in 13 municipal wards, out of the total 272 wards in all three municipal corporations in the national capital.
A 20-year -old law student Sanjana Gahlot had filed a PIL on bad civic condition in her village, which said that drain water was overflowing on all streets and filth was spread everywhere.
