The Hindu : MCD by-elections soon after Lok Sabha polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD by-elections soon after Lok Sabha polls

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. By-elections to the six vacant Councillors seats would be held soon after the Lok Sabha polls are over in May. In a letter to the Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, the State Election Commission has asked the civic body to be ready for the by-elections and make requisite preparations in this regard.

The six vacant seats are Khayala, Tri Nagar, Nangloi, Nand Nagri, Keshav Puram and Timarpur. The Tri Nagar seat became vacant following the brutal murder of the Congress Councillor, Atma Ram Gupta, in 2002. The MCD House had declared the Keshav Puram seat vacant after the Congress Councillor, Sharda Jain, could not attend its meetings for three consecutive months because she was imprisoned in Tihar Jail in connection of her alleged involvement in the murder of Atma Ram Gupta.

The remaining four seats fell vacant following the election of the sitting Councillors to the Delhi Assembly in the December elections. While Dayanand Chandela represented the Khayala seat, the then MCD Standing Committee Chairman and Leader of House, Ram Babu Sharma, represented the Nand Nagri seat.

Surinder Pal Singh and Bijender Singh represented the Tri Nagar and Nangloi seats respectively. Sources in the MCD said this was the first time that by-elections were being scheduled for vacant Councillor's seat after 1997.

There were no by-elections for the two seats, which became vacant after the election of Mahabal Mishra from Dabri, and Narendra Nath from Shadara. These two seats remained unrepresented for more than three and half years, officials in the MCD said.

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