Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, 11 March, came down heavily on the Centre for allegedly influencing the Election Commission (EC) to delay three civic body polls in the national capital. The MCD polls were originally slated to take place on Wednesday, 9 March.
Addressing a media conference, Kejriwal said that the state election commission delayed the MCD polls after the Centre wrote a letter to the latter asking for a unification of the three civic bodies. He said that the Centre also allegedly told the EC to delay the polls.
"Date for MCD polls was to be announced at 5 pm on 9 March, but the same day an hour ago, Centre wrote to State EC to combine all three civic bodies into one, & that polls should be delayed. EC agreed to do so...Not okay if polls are cancelled, weakens EC role," Kejriwal said, adding that the Centre's main motive wasn't the unification of all 3 MCDs.