Last year, after winning 14 out of 18 seats across eight wholesale mandis, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had slammed the Central government's demonetisation scheme.
In yet another setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal has ordered the Director of Agriculture to put a stay on the formation of a new Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), till the allegations of irregularities in the election of the previous panel are resolved. The order has come while the party is busy campaigning for the upcoming municipal corporation elections.
A number of traders, including Surendra Babu Budhiraja, Prem Kumar, Mahender Kumar Satpal, and Praveen Kohil of the Azadpur Market, had earlier filed complaints with the Director of Agriculture and the LG about the irregularities in the panel election held on December 12, last year.
Then last week, Baijal issued an order to put the formation of the new committee on hold till all grievances in this matter were resolved. Stating that the Agriculture Department did not conduct the election properly, trader Satpal told DNA: "We had first appealed to the High Court, which directed us to approach the Director of Agriculture. We then appealed to the LG, who has given us some relief for a while."
Last year, after winning 14 out of 18 seats across eight wholesale mandis, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had slammed the Central government's demonetisation scheme. Dilip Pandey, Convener of the Delhi unit of AAP, had said:
"This is just a trailer of what is to come in the MCD elections next year. The way Congress and BJP were defeated in these elections will be repeated in the civic body elections." Both BJP and Congress had downplayed the party's claims.
The APMC elections to elect representatives for eight wholesale mandis in the Capital are facilitated by the Delhi government through the Agricultural Marketing Department. The elections are held every five years in the Azadpur Mandi and every three years in the seven other wholesale mandis.
While polls were due in Azadpur Mandi in February, the terms of the remaining seven mandis had expired in September itself. Hence, elections for all of them were conducted at the same time. Though there are 18 seats, one was left out as no candidate contested. Nearly 6,000 commission agents were enlisted as electors and each seat was contested by 10-15 commission agents.
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