The polling process to elect the mayor of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was stalled on Friday until further notice after clashes erupted between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the opposition BJP on Friday.
The house was adjourned abruptly after a brawl between the two parties started at the first meeting of the newly elected civic body.
Members of both parties not only lashed out and threw chairs at each other, but also raised slogans against each other's leaders. The BJP raised slogans against Delhi state chief Arvind Kejriwal, while the AAP targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The clashes erupted after temporary Speaker Satya Sharma, appointed by Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena, asked the nominated members or "aldermen" of the MCD house to take an oath ahead of the mayoral election.
Members of the AAP said that elected councilors should have been sworn in before the nominated members.
The AAP also accused the lieutenant governor of trying to skew the mayoral polls to help the BJP, as the AAP chief and Delhi state chief Kejriwal, in a letter shared on Twitter on Thursday, accused him of intentionally picking 10 nominated members aligned with the BJP.
The AAP accused the lieutenant governor making the picks without consulting with the government in Delhi.
AAP lawmaker Saurabh Bhardwaj said: "It is the tradition that the senior most member of House is nominated as protem Speaker or presiding officer. But the BJP is hell bent, destroying all democratic traditions and Institutions."
Meanwhile, the BJP claimed that it would win the mayoralty and that the AAP has no faith in its own councilors.
"Everything is being done according to the Constitution. They are making excuses because they know they are morally defeated," said BJP Parliamentarian Manoj Tiwari.
The AAP's Shelly Oberoi is competing for the post of mayor against the BJP's Rekha Gupta. For the post of deputy mayor, the AAP has named Aaley Muhammad Iqbal, whereas the BJP has named Kamal Bagri.
The MCD has 250 elected councilors. The BJP's seven Lok Sabha (Lower House) lawmakers from Delhi and the AAP's three Rajya Sabha (Upper House) members, as well as 14 lawmakers nominated by the Delhi speaker will also participate in the mayoral election.
Congress, which has nine councilors, has decided not to take part in the voting.
The AAP won 134 of 250 seats in the MCD elections held in December last year, while the BJP won 104.