The BJP’s Sundar Singh Tanwar was nominated to the 18th, and final, seat of the Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee on Friday afternoon, following an election that featured only his party’s councillors. Tanwar got 115 votes – the number of BJP councillors in the House.

Tanwar’s win – which will almost certainly be challenged in court – means the BJP now has control over the Standing Committee, which is widely seen as the real power behind the municipal body. The BJP now has 10 of its 18 members and can select the Chair.

The AAP has 125 councillors and, had the party voted today (and providing none of its votes would have been poached by the BJP) it would most likely have won the election, and control of the Standing Committee, which takes most of the municipal body’s financial decisions.

The Congress, which has nine councillors, abstained from voting.

All of this comes after the Aam Aadmi Party – last night – boycotted voting in a late-night session summoned by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, the centre’s rep in the national capital.

This morning ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia once again rejected the “illegal election” scheduled for 1 pm, and said, “There is nothing today”. Shortly afterwards party boss Arvind Kejriwal said “it is written in the law… only the Mayor has the right to call a sitting of the House”.

READ | AAP Says “Nothing Today” In Row Over Delhi Civic Body Panel Poll

“We live in a democracy. It is written in the law that whenever the House is called, 72 hours will be given. Every councillor needs time. There seems to be something wrong with their intentions. There seems to be a conspiracy to do something wrong, that is why they are doing all this…” Mr Kejriwal said.

On Thursday Mayor Oberoi said, “I have written a letter to the Commissioner (of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi) that the election to be held today is unconstitutional and illegal.”

READ | Delhi Lt Governor Nixes Deferring Of Standing Committee Seat Election

But Mr Saxena sought to overturn that order, demanding MCD Commissioner Ashwini Kumar “submit a report of conduct of elections… by 10 pm today” and that the Deputy Mayor oversee proceedings if Ms Oberoi declares herself unavailable for any reason.

This election is the latest in a long line of bitter squabbles between the AAP and Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor, VK Saxena. The vacancy was created after the BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat quit; she had been elected to the Lok Sabha from the West Delhi seat in the April-June election.

YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy has cancelled his planned visit to the Tirumala temple on Saturday which was meant to atone for the “sin” allegedly committed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who has claimed that animal fat was used to make the famed laddoos which are offered as ‘prasad’ at the shrine.

Addressing a press conference on Friday afternoon, Mr Reddy said he was denied permission to visit the temple, a charge that has been rubbished by Mr Naidu’s TDP.

The decision came amid a political row in the state after the TDP and its ally BJP demanded that Mr Reddy, who is a former Andhra Pradesh chief minister, sign a declaration meant for non-Hindus. The parties have said that according to the rules of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams,  which manages the Tirumala Tirupati temple, foreigners and non-Hindus should declare their reverence for Lord Venkateswara, to whom the temple is dedicated, before visiting the shrine.

Sources said that while the rule is an old one, new signboards announcing it have sprung up near the temple after the YSR Congress chief announced his visit on Wednesday.

Mr Naidu said that his government would protect Hindu sentiments and that all visitors must follow the traditions of the temple.

YSR Congress leaders have also reportedly been issued notices by the police stating that Section 30 of the Police Act, which regulates public assemblies and processions, is in force in the district. This was done in view of reports that several members of the party would gather along the route as part of statewide rituals to atone for Mr Naidu’s “sin”.

‘Diverting The Topic’

Speaking at the press conference, Mr Reddy said he was also issued a notice that no permissions had been given for his Tirumala visit and claimed that the laddoo row was being used to divert the topic from the first 100 days of Mr Naidu’s rule as the chief minister in this term.

“All the statements made by him (Mr Naidu) on the laddoos are proving to be a lie one after another. He has made a mistake and violated the sanctity of the temple. I have visited the Tirumala temple several times and now he is bringing up the declaration issue to divert the topic once again and he is doing other politics with that… The Tirumala laddoo is special and pure, and with a political motive he has said that it was made with animal fat,” the former chief minister said in Telugu.

Responding to the claim that the ghee used for the laddoos was adulterated and had animal fat, Mr Reddy hit out at Mr Naidu and asked why there was a delay in the lab report being made public.

“A person holding the chief minister’s chair should not be lying like this… Nothing can be more irreligious than a chief minister spoiling the name and fame of the temple and the lord like that. The tendering for procuring ghee has been happening every six months for decades… the temple board approves the lowest bidder from qualified bids and the government has no role in it,” he added.

‘Imagining Conspiracies’

Andhra Pradesh BJP chief D Purandeswari had cited two rules and said Mr Reddy needed to make a declaration. 

“We are given to understand that Jagan Mohan Reddy intends to visit Tirumala on the 28th of this month. The practice of declaring one’s faith has been in place for decades. As per G.O. MS NO- 311 of AP Revenue Endowments–1, Rule no 16, Non-Hindus must give a declaration at the  Vaikuntam queue complex before darshan. This is also as per TTD general regulations Rule 136,” the BJP leader had said in a post on ‘X.’ 

TDP spokesperson Jyothsna Tirunagari, who had earlier said that Mr Reddy would not be allowed to visit the temple if he did not sign the declaration, told NDTV after the press conference on Friday that the YSR Congress chief had not been denied permission. 

“The former chief minister has made false statements. Giving a declaration is one of the rules at the temple for non-Hindus and we had raised this issue even when he was the chief minister. A declaration was also given by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam when he was President. The police have not issued any notice to Mr Reddy, he is imagining conspiracies,” Ms Tirunagari asserted. 

More than half of people in Argentina are now living in poverty, latest figures indicate. 

​More than half of people in Argentina are now living in poverty, latest figures indicate.